2 comments to “President of the World?”

1. Jason Ihle wrote:
   23. June 2008 at :

   Take it from someone who lives abroad that these polls mean absolutely nothing. The people I talk to like Obama, but they have no clue why. Basically there’s just a built in instinct to support any Democrat over any Republican. That instinct is amplified by a factor of about 8 billion this year because the Democrat will replace not just any Republican, but a Republican seen as the Devil incarnate outside the US.

   If you think most Americans don’t know squat about politicians and their beliefs and policies, then try talking to a foreigner, whose information comes in 30 second news clips and 200 word newspaper articles. If the typical American college student has beliefs and ideals that are a mile wide and an inch deep with regard to social policy then Europeans (with regard to American policy) have beliefs that are 2 inches wide and an inch deep.

   In Europe, a Democrat is automatically better than a Republican. But the misunderstandings I face when it comes to knowledge of American politics, the American people and how we choose our politicians is astounding. People operate under the belief that all American politicians are so conservative. This is because the European left is true blue socialism (the Socialist party has the majority in Spain) with loads of stupid government handouts that basically serve to apply Band-Aids to gushing head wounds of social problems. So their benchmark for what is considered ‘left’ is completely different to our own.

   Yet they continue to fail to see their own staunch conservatism such as the way they don’t want anything in the world to change - EVER!! My most recent political discussion was with a Scot who doesn’t like the way Americans use the term ‘war.’ For him what’s happening in Iraq isn’t a war. The war on terrorism should not be called a war. Even what happened in Afghanistan (although he owned up to supporting it) is not really a war. His reasoning is that a war can only be waged between states - governments with an organized military wearing uniforms. How much more conservative can you get than refusing to accept that war doesn’t occur like that anymore? It’s like he wants formal declarations and generals riding out on horseback to the middle of the battlefield to shake hands before the shooting starts. And then a white flag at the end. Otherwise it’s not a war.

   Sorry, have I gone off topic? Yes, but all to illustrate how Europeans have very skewed ideas about America and their opinions of our political candidates counts for nothing as far as I’m concerned. But I’ll continue to humor them by talking about Obama.

2. Matt Friedlander wrote:
   23. June 2008 at :

   Say what you want about Europeans and foreigners in general Jason, they still get ridiculously more internet bandwidth then all of Canada and the U.S. combined!

   Want proof? Of course you do. Look no further:

   http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ma6wtjIpVqs
   (From 4:32)

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