This is David Aaronovitch at the London Guardian, taking on the tendency of the Western European left to fixate on Democratic candidates--and at the moment, to see Obama as The Man Who Will Fix It All. I'm interested to see this from a British perspective, since I've been watching this one for a couple of elections now. My favorite moment was when the Guardian tried to convince its readers to write to Ohio voters asking them to please, PLEASE vote for Mr. Kerry.
Anyway, check it out. He makes some interesting points. Liked this:
But even if he (George W. Bush)had been a half-Chinese ballet-loving Francophone, he would have been hated by some who should have loved him, for there isn't an American president since Eisenhower who hasn't ended up, at some point or other, being depicted by the world's cartoonists as a cowboy astride a phallic missile. It happened to Bill Clinton when he bombed Iraq; it will happen to Mr Obama when his reinforced forces in Afghanistan or Pakistan mistake a meeting of tribal elders for an unwise gathering of Taleban and al-Qaeda. Then the new president (or, if McCain, the old president) will be the target of that mandarin Anglo-French conceit that our superior colonialism somehow gives us the standing to critique the Yank's naive and inferior imperialism.
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