It struck me today, speaking to a work collegaue who has no particular interest in politics, least of all American politics, that even she was wanting a Barack Obama win in the big "Super Tuesday" primaries today. If he has this effect on UK citizens, why is he not having the same effect on Americans ?
I'm not saying for one moment that he is not picking up support, and he does seem to have the momentum at the moment, but it is astonishing that it is still so close between him and Hillary Clinton when the whole world and his aunt seem to want an Obama win.
The question for me then are we missing something blindingly good about Hillary Clinton or are we failing to notice some terrible flaw in Obama which should make us question his suitability ?
Personally, give the American's proven track record in the previous two presidential elections, I am more likely to think that we have got it right, and those who oppose Obama have got it wrong. To me, Hillary is a turn back the clock candidate, a 20th century candidate for the 21st century, whilst Obama is the future. What's more, all the evidence seems to show that Obama would stand a greater chance of winning should he be selected than Clinton would. Hillary Clinton polarises people, and yes she has large swathes of supporters, but middle ground independents are not won over by her in the way that Obama can.
You've just got to hope that Democrats see that Obama is their best chance of keeping the Republicans out because if Hillary Clinton represents the end of the last century, I'd hate to think fo where john McCain would take America.
So what do we think, do you want an Obama win or is it just my misconception that we are all wanting him to win ?
5 comments:
I think even most Tories want an Obama win.
I get the impression that much of the European right would prefer a Hillary win.
Then again, the US 'conservatives' seem to prefer her to McCain...
I think the real reason may be that most people outside the States simply want a change of government after 20 years of Clinton/Bush - and know that Clinton won't deliver it. Remember, Bush senior failed in the first Gulf War to remove Saddam, which has caused many of our current difficulties, Clinton committed one silly mess-up after another in office over foreign policy as well, although not on the scale of Iraq. I think a great many people imagine him as the power behind a Mrs Clinton Presidency.
The Americans meanwhile vote on the state of their domestic economy, which will help Clinton who is more experienced than Obama - so it's a bit of a case of apples and pears when it comes to internal/external votes.
I disagree with everybody here. But then again Tristan is an arch Republican (who doesn't understand the differences between Liberalism and Libertarianism or Marxism and other authoritarian doctrines.
I just want a Democrat in the White House, and I still believe Hillary is most likely to deliver that, so I support her.
While I would much rather see an Obama victory, some of the answer as to why much of the world would seemingly prefer Obama must lie in the direct bearing it will have on us in comparison to Americans. We're allowed to get swept up in the image of Obama, the comparatively young inspirational speaker who can boast the ability to stir a crowd into rabid support. We're allowed to ignore the fact that he has very little proven track record and is relatively inexperienced at a national and international level. It is hardly surprising that many Americans are reluctant to entirely discount Hillary, cold and calculating as she might be, as she has as full a track record in the world of politics as you could ask of any candidate. Experience needn't be as important to us, their foreign policy aims are unlikely to be particularly different and so unlikely to affect us in greatly different ways, and so the likeability factor is all that we need to tell apart ideologically similar candidates. It is likely, in my opinion, that we would give Hillary more of a chance if we were American.
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