A succinct editorial from Jonathan Freedland of the British newspaper

A succinct editorial from Jonathan Freedland of the British newspaper
The Guardian on the upcoming US election.

"If Sarah Palin defies the conventional wisdom that says elections are determined by the top of the ticket, and somehow wins this for McCain, what will be the reaction? Yes, blue-state America will go into mourning once again, feeling estranged in its own country. A generation of young Americans - who back Obama in big numbers - will turn cynical, concluding that politics doesn't work after all.
And, most depressing, many African-Americans will decide that if even Barack Obama - with all his conspicuous gifts - could not win, then no black man can ever be elected president.
But what of the rest of the world? This is the reaction I fear most. For Obama has stirred an excitement around the globe unmatched by any American politician in living memory. Polling in Germany , France , Britain and Russia shows that Obama would win by whopping majorities, with the pattern repeated in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America . If November 4 were a global ballot, Obama would win it handsomely. If the free world could choose its leader, it would be Barack Obama.
The crowd of 200,000 that rallied to hear him in Berlin in July did so not only because of his charisma, but also because they know he, like the majority of the world's population, opposed the Iraq war.. McCain supported it, peddling the lie that Saddam was linked to 9/11.
Non-Americans sense that Obama will not ride roughshod over the international system but will treat alliances and global institutions seriously: McCain wants to bypass the United Nations in favour of a US-friendly League of Democracies. McCain might talk a good game on climate change, but a repeated floor chant at the Republican convention was "Drill, baby, drill!", as if the solution to global warming were not a radical rethink of the US's entire energy system but more offshore oil rigs.
If Americans choose McCain, they will be turning their back on the rest of the world, choosing to show us four more years of the Bush-Cheney finger. And I predict a deeply unpleasant shift. Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change.

Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves. For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start - a fresh start the world is yearning for. And the manner of that decision will matter, too. If it is deemed to have been about race - that Obama was rejected because of his colour - the world's verdict will be harsh. In that circumstance, Slate's Jacob Weisberg wrote recently, international opinion would conclude that "the United States had its day, but in the end couldn't put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race".
Even if it's not ethnic prejudice, but some other aspect of the culture wars, that proves decisive, the point still holds. For America to make a decision as grave as this one - while the planet boils and with the US fighting two wars - on the trivial basis that a hockey mom is likable and seems down to earth, would be to convey a lack of seriousness, a fleeing from reality, that does indeed suggest a nation in, to quote Weisberg, "historical decline". Let's not forget, McCain's campaign manager boasts that this election is "not about the issues."

Of course I know that even to mention Obama's support around the world is to hurt him. Incredibly, that large Berlin crowd damaged Obama at home, branding him the "candidate of Europe " and making him seem less of a patriotic American. But what does that say about today's America , that the world's esteem is now unwanted? If Americans reject Obama, they will be sending the clearest possible message to the rest of us - and, make no mistake, we shall hear it."


A Rather Thoughtful Article by a British Journalist

If Obama doesn't win this election then it will be clear that it happen because he is minority and that white America is not yet ready my friends..........Thank u for sharing this article.

bellah wrote:

If Obama does [size=18]NOT[/size] win this election then it will be clear that it happen because he is minority and that white America is not yet ready my friends..........Thank u for sharing this article.

Did u feel that way when he ran against Hillary? Bella dont be a hypocrite...please

Even for a slightly right-winged newspaper, the article managed to articulate very precisely the current climate here in the Uk with regard to the US presidential elections. The mixed feelings of anticipation, hope, a sense of an impending leap in history and cynicism are grossly palpable. Don't get me wrong, the British are sufficiently consumed with their own well cultivated sense of superiority to be swept up by the Hollywood fan-fair associated with American elections just for the mere sake of it; but even the most unwavering of political cynics has a sense that this election represents an opportunity for a change in direction, and that this decision will affect us globally. This is not just about Obama as an individual. It's also about what he represents...a change in direction... a shift in consciousness... and the world is experiencing this together. This is indeed an important time in history!!

jclifden wrote:

bellah wrote:

If Obama does [size=18]NOT[/size] win this election then it will be clear that it happen because he is minority and that white America is not yet ready my friends..........Thank u for sharing this article.

Did u feel that way when he ran against Hillary? Bella dont be a hypocrite...please

Jclif, that was the simple reason i didn't support him in the primary. I will hope that White America for once go for a change...