Excellent article on BHO in yesterday’s Grauniad by Timothy Garton Ash:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/23/barack-obama-us-assassination-us-elections

I do wonder what the nutjobs will do if, as seems ever more likely, Obama actually does win the popular vote and the electoral college by enough to prevent the Supreme Court from awarding the election to McCain.

I’ve just read McPherson’s “Battle Cry of Freedom” (thanks to a recommendation on a link from this site) and I was very struck with the similarity of language used by the defenders of slavery before 1861 and that of the nutjobs to-day. The abolitionists were going to destroy Christianity, civilisation and the Constitution – no amount of hate was too great, no vitriol was spared.

I’m not suggesting that the USA is likely to fall apart any time soon, it clearly isn’t, merely that the nutjobs aren’t going to go away. They will probably look first to the Supreme Court to strike down Obama’s legislation, and I expect the idea of a “Christian amendment” to the Constitution to be revived.

I read Ash’s article at the airport (high winds, long delays). I agree, excellent.

Heh, I’m guessing Mike’s referring to my book meme post which got linked to in the netcast–I’m also rereading that book at the moment, last I read it was about 7 years ago, and he’s right, some of the language being used now is very similar to the language and rhetoric used in the run up then.

But to answer Sunny’s question properly, who I’d really like is someone a bit like Dennis Kucinich, but witha bit of Obama’s charisma. But I’ll settle for Obama–I just wish his trade policies were a little more liberal and a little less ‘stop-the-world’. Ah well.

The Palin YouTube clip is still priceless. “Our next door neighbours are foreign countries.” Truly, she is a visionary! I’ve emailed it to a couple of friends in New York.

The Economist has yet to endorse either candidate, but it has a global poll where you can vote for your preferred candidate. Given that McCain is more pro-free trade and business (which is the Economist’s basic stance) it is interesting to see how far ahead Obama is.

Yesterday he was leading in every single country in the world apart from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

McCain seems to have fought back over night. He is now ahead in Namibia, Sudan and Algeria and – perhaps not surprisingly – in Iraq. He is also gaining in Macedonia, Georgia and Moldova. Somehow I don’t think this is going to be enough. Anyway, go across and vote.

http://www.economist.com/vote2008/?source=hpevents&source=hpevents

BHO has raised $10 in London for every $1 McCain has.

You couldn’t dream it up…but maybe that’s the plan. With the experience of the Republicans in manipulating the media they could have trained up Palin to not say things like this, with their networks they could have easily found a VP candidate that wasn’t tainted by the Bush legacy.

Imagine if you’re looking at the TV and you see someone who not only passed all his exams, not only helped others in his community but is also charming and attracts the crowds. And you’re frustrated at your own inadequacies of not having done well at school, not being involved in charity/community work and find it difficult to express yourself in public. Who would you relate to better?

It’s all moral theatre, it’s not about foreign policy. Telling and framing a narrative that’s so unthinktable (I know foreign policy because I live next to Russia) that people forget the initial purpose of the debate (who can defend the US’ interests better) and focus on symbolic positions (Palin’s stupid, she shouldn’t therefore be VP versus stop patronising Palin, she’s a normal person like the rest of us), which give you a 50/50 chance of attracting the voter.

this video here is unbeatable
http://everydaysocialdemocracy.blogspot.com/2008/10/im-sorry-i-forgot.html

All this leads me to think: these neo-conservatives, of which I include Tories here, really have run out of any serious energy, ideas and momentum that built their movement from the 70s to 2008,

That period includes the Clinton and Blair victories. So I would not conclude too much from an Obama victory.

The electoral failure of Big Government Conservatism may not be so reassuring a sign for Big Government Liberalism, as people tend to think.