neon_duke
I thought all it took was a Michael Moore movie to show America the Truth.
Has anybody but me noticed that nearly all non-American Bush haters assume that he determines American policy singlehandedly as if he were a fascist dictator, while most American Bush-haters assume he's a brainless stooge of the military-industrial complex?
I think that's a misperception. It's basically a little more complex than that. We Europeans for one think that Americans vote for a president, an individual, not a party. This is how we are not surprised for instance to see a Jerry Springer become mayor, Mr. Universe become governor and Ronald Reagan become president.
In the meantime, we are in complete amazement of how much money goes into a political campaign in the U.S., particularly since we are much more cautious of the dangers of buying political influence and favors as a result of this. We do very much recognise the power of large industries.
Comparatively less amazing is how much of that money goes into making candidate 1 more popular than candidate 2 - in the light of the first paragraph, we think we start to understand how the Americans vote. Certainly the parties seem to think this two, as where elections here actually focus on political issues, in the U.S. we see two parties push their leaders as the ultimate solid rocks in times of turmoil without which the world would fall apart.
So with that understanding, we Europeans have started to look more closely at the candidates of the parties. In Clinton, Europe recognised all that it found appealing about the U.S. In Bush, the Europeans recognise all that we find appalling about the U.S.
However, it is very important to realise that we are talking about the Europeans who care to actually interest themselves in politics outside their own villages and countries. They are appalled by someone who seems to care and know so little about other countries. There are many more Europeans than you'd think based on what you hear here and elsewhere, who would vote Bush if he was a local guy. But they don't care enough to have an opinion on anything outside their own small world, let alone voice it.
Bear in mind that the above is a generalisation and does not necessarily represent my own standpoint. It contains oversimplifications on all levels that I myself generally tend to prefer to keep viewing in their full complexity.
Having said that, I think Bush lack of understanding (giving him the benefit of the doubt of purposely ignoring) the world is an insult to everyone both in the U.S. and outside, and the policies of the Republican party and the forces behind it border on the criminal.
I hold to the theory though that once a president is elected in the U.S., he'll be allowed to stay on for the full 8 years. For what reason I have no idea, but except for a vice-predident who came into power because a president was murdered and so wasn't really elected into presidency, I cannot think of an exception. But I don't know all of them by heart (just Kennedy, Carter, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush), not even sure who was president before ol' Ronnie.
Hillary for president!
