It's the Presidential debate, Stupid!

AOG, Madrid

So, Mr. McCain has finally acceded to debate with Mr. Obama. The suspense is over.

I'm surprised he said no in the first place.

Hesitation on such a small scale appears to be only symptomatic of hesitation and nerves to come. Like, when he sits in the White House. And there is a crisis. And he flip flops just as he has done now. This tendency to mimic Charlie Brown's wishy washyness is funny only when serious issues are not at stake.

I think now, more than ever, the US needs a leader who does not hesitate in public, especially not over something as set in stone as a presidential debate.

If his intention was to appear like a leader, he failed.

The media report that his presence in the meeting with President Bush last night was, to say the least, that of a spectator and not a leader.

Furthermore, Congressmen have asked both candidates to stay away and get on with the election and leave them to sort out the economic crisis, bailout, no bailout, rescue plan or whatever euphemism is being used.

If nothing else, it appears like the frenzy over Ms. Palin has passed and we are back on important issues. We all think it is kinda cool she can cook a moose after shooting it from a helicopter. Yes. But can she find Tashkent on a map? As VP she probably does not need to know straight away. George W. Bush has proven that as President, she better do. For all our sakes.

Tonight America will be one step closer to making its mind up in this election.

Can't wait!

This can only be good.

Palin's looks

AOG, Madrid

Presence. As much an asset to have as it is a liability to lack it; in theater and film as it is in politics.

In the Republican convention it is plainly obvious, after Sarah Palin’s performance yesterday, that it is she, and not McCain who has it. Palin has a great presence. Strong. Confident. Savvy.

Her image has all the things Hillary Clinton lacked, she instils in you the strength of her personality only by standing there, doing nothing.

It might be her beauty queen background or perhaps she was wearing power heels, but when compared to an enfeebled McCain who had to hold the microphone with both hands one can’t help but think “yes, there stands the next President of the United States, and she looks great”.

Is John McCain sick? He certainly looked frail just before introducing Palin.

This is not an image which instils security in the electorate.

Perhaps this election, more so than any other ever before, when thinking of the Republican candidate, one has to consider the very real possibility that said candidate might die in office, and it will be his VP who takes charge of the Executive branch of Government.

As she stood there, next to McCain, Sarah Palin certainly looked like the next president, as much as does Barack Obama.

This is not to say that she can actually pull it off, though when placed on the spot she might surprise us all.

However, for starters, she certainly looks like America’s first Madam President. The British press is already calling her "America's Margaret Thatcher". I hope for America's sake that they are wrong in this respect. She looks nothing like her.

Looks, however, can always be deceiving.

Sarah Palin

AOG, Madrid

In the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans this coming November, both the Republicans and the Democrats are keen on finding the best candidate. It's always said that the most important decision a presidential candidate makes is their pick for Vice President. It shows their thinking and judgment.

This 2008, events in the Caucus region between Russia and Georgia have, according to some, pushed/forced/cleared up the way for Obama’s choice as a running mate in the form of Joe Biden, a man earmarked for his expertise in foreign affairs, something which the general media in the US is adamant Mr. Obama lacks. Biden, a Delaware senator, is known as a skilled and tactful debater, and is a foreign policy expert, chairing the Senate foreign relations committee.

On the other side of the spectrum, for reasons known only to himself, McCain has chosen Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, to be his running mate. She is the first woman to do so under a Republican ticket. So that, and only that, is good news.

The rest is just abysmal, to say the least.

Flip flops over the Ketchikan bridge aside (also known as the Bridge to Nowhere), Ms. Palin is there, I would venture, to appease the party’s right, as well as its extreme right, wings.

Senator John Kerry, presidential candidate in 2004 also thinks this is the case since, according to him, the party is “suspicious” of McCain.

As if that were not bad enough, according to Senator Kerry, "He's chosen somebody who doesn't believe climate change is man-made", as he declared on ABC news.

She also does not believe in abortion, something which will make the McCain camp loose more votes, especially amongst women, but supports expanded drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. According to Wikipedia's much discussed and amended entry for her, she is said to support teaching creationism, alongside sicence.

This is what I find scariest. Whilst the rest of the worl forges forward in scientic research, blowing away the clouds of religion, the potential Vice President of the US believes in Creationism. It is one thing to be an Evangelical Christian, but to believe in Creationsim is just too much for me. But there's more.

Rush Limbaugh, whose radio show attracts millions of rightwing listeners, has enthusiastically welcomed the Governor of Alaska.

"Palin equals guns, babies, Jesus ... Obama just lost blue-collar, white Democratic voters in Pennsylvania and other states," Limbaugh said.

James Dobson, the conservative Christian leader who had been opposed to McCain, said the selection of Palin had won him over.

Amazingly, and catastrophically for the Republicans, by bringing in someone with very little experience, they have, ironically, washed over their main quip at Obama- lack of experience.

When it comes to experience, compared with Ms. Palin, Mr. Obama looks like Winston Churchill.

The Daily News-Miner, an Alaskan paper, wrote in an editorial: “Republicans rightfully have criticised the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, for his lack of experience but Palin is a neophyte in comparison. Palin is not ready for the top job. It’s clear that McCain picked Palin for reasons of image, not substance.”

A good omen?

After appearing with McCain at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, last Friday, Palin made her second campaign speech on Saturday near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Her stop there showed a vulnerability that could be a worry for McCain: some of the audience left as she was speaking and there was booing when, in an appeal to Democratic voters to switch to McCain, she mentioned Hillary Clinton, something Senator Kerry said was insulting to Hillary Clinton supporters, given her anti-abortion and other socially conservative views.

Palin, 44, is Alaska's first female governor. She was sworn in December 2006, making her one of the least experienced people to run for vice-president in recent memory - she has been governor for just a bit over 18 months. Alaska is one of the smallest states in the US, with only 670,000 residents; this would only make it the 17th most populous city in the United States. Just ahead of Fort Worth. Before becoming governor, Palin served two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 9,800 people, and was on the city's council before that.

Do you know what the first two "powers and duties" are for the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska? Check their municipal code:

1. Preside at council meetings. The mayor may take part in the discussion of matters before the council, but may not vote, except that the mayor may vote in the case of a tie;

2. Act as ceremonial head of the city;

In the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial race, Palin bested the incumbent Republican governor during the primary election. As for foreign policy experience, she has none, but she was runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant.

Nonetheless the final outcome in November will give the US one of two new paradigms, either a Black President, or a Woman Vice President for the first time ever.

Given McCain’s advanced age- he just turned 72-, and his not ironclad health, it may even give America its first-ever woman President. But for all the wrong reasons, of course.

Bush

AOG, Madrid

Before I forget, from today, only 199 days to go until President George Bush is out of office for good.

Just thought I should mention it.

I wonder if he'll invade someone else between now and then....

Must confess to having repressed my urges to deface and vandalize his photograph.

I am trying to be an adult about this.

And then there's this:

From Doug Brinkley's Reagan Diaries, published by Harper Collins:

"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his n'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."
As they say, If only we'd known then what we know now...

Streisand versus Winfrey

AOG, Madrid

What is the Democratic party trying to sell us? A return to a good past or a leap towards a better future?

The jury is still out.

On the "Obamaic" camp, the future is bright and we gotta wear shades. Color Purple shades. Somehow, our Senator from Illinois has managed to get Oprah Winfrey onboard. Ms. Winfrey, probably the best symbol forward-thinking middle America has, has decided, first time ever, to back a (audacious) politician.

Barely a day after Barack Obama's campaign announced Oprah will stump with their candidate next month comes word that Hillary Clinton has snared her own celebrity endorser.

On the "Gin & (Clin)tonic” camp, Hilary has Barbra Streisand by her side. Ms. Streisand, ever the eternal liberal, represents to many a return to a not-too-distant, happier past: the interregnum between the Bushes, shall we say.

The economy was booming, the Cold War was over. The US was not at war with anyone, and it was not about to let something as meaningless as the Ugandan Genocide, or Bosnia, shatter its prosperity.

Nonetheless, life was good, gas was cheap, and the whole Lewinski thing was a hoot.

So which way will the Democratic party turn? Will it audaciously leap forward towards a brighter tomorrow or will it hark back to ancient Clintonian times?

The political calculations will argue that some voters are dumb enough to vote for a celebrity-endorsed politician; after all, Washington is Hollywood for ugly people, as they say.

But, in what appears to be a close race, by listening to Winfrey or Streisand, people will stick around long enough to listen and/or learn about the candidate they endorse.

Just another thursday with rain...

AOG, Madrid

Went to Madrid University to see about a course. Huge campus. Rain. Not many street signs. Got drenched. Achieved little. Came home tired and wet.

A colleague at work poured his heart out concerning another co worker. Love was in the air, but it came to nothing. I feel for both. By the way, who died and made me cupid?

Wonderful article about Obama. Wonderful in that it talks about something, it would appear, no one is allowed to talk about...unless they are black.