Next US President

[Greg Truby]

Greg - I strongly support the comments in this thread about not getting too bogged down in political argument. This ain't the place for that.

Aye, I quite agree. That's why my first post here was to [try to] explain to Denis or others not familiar with our system, a bit of how it works and avoid specific positions.

And my query about how the election was portrayed in the foreign press and how it was viewed overseas was meant to steer the thread away from direct political positional comments and more towards a general topic that should allow Nate to head off to the pub without havin' ta grab his mighty mouse and bother himself. :wink:

 

[yytsunamiyy]

Seen from Germany, the media here has made a big deal of it, with, as far as I would be willing and able to judge, a strong bias for Obama. (Not that that matters in any way, shape or form, seeing how for some reasons you forgot to put in your constitution that europeans are allowed to vote as well...)
All through last night the two public channels (about equal to BBC 1 & 2 in the UK) were having live reporters, constant updates, commentaries and so on. The private channels apart from the news channels had some coverage. Print media are full of it.

I for one truly hope that things return to normal soon as I feel we have many more pressing problems right here in our own house that deserve the coverage. After all, what does it REALLY matter who is the president of the USA to Germany? Whoever it is has to deal with the legacy of George W Bush and is therefore very restricted in the amount of "change" he can bring about. There is a certain feeling of goodwill amongst the Germans for Obama and the hope that he will at least try to mend some broken fences. But the overwhelming feeling is one of happiness and relief that George Walker Bush is about to walk off the world stage.

Edit: I am not taking any sides here

 

[DonkeyOte]

Just echoing Gerald & Barry... yes the election was and still is as we speak big news in the UK, Obama was seen by many as a "positive" choice ... that said in the UK we have a certain (recent yet profound) penchant for younger political leaders -- there has in the past decade or so been only one notable exception to that rule here in the UK (that I can think of at 11pm) namely Sir Menzies Campbell of the Lib Democrats and his tenure was not a long one... older politicians rarely get good press in the UK.
Disclaimer: the above is by no means meant to be represent a political point merely a general observation of the British press.

 

[TinaP]

As a resident of one of the battleground states (Ohio) I'm glad the election is over. It's a double-edged sword when the press and candidates pay such close attention to you...at least they ask what is important to you (even if they don't always listen) but it's very intrusive.

Now the media can go back to commercials for Pocket Fisherman and home beer brewing kits instead of mudslinging.

 

[Norie]

Tina

Excuse my ignorance but what is a 'Pocket Fisherman'?

Is it a small person/elf/faerie that you keep in your pocket and use when you've been dropped into West Sumatra and you're hungry?

And can I buy one on QVC or Ebay?

 

[Smitty]

what is a 'Pocket Fisherman'?

I'll bet it has to do with RONCO, as in Ron Popeil, the US inventor of all things useless, and probably the originator of the late night infomercial: "but wait, there's more!!!"

 

[Greg Truby]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a 'Pocket Fisherman'?

WHAT!? You mean Ron Popeil has not conquered Europe!?

http://www.ronco.com/rco_prodinfo.aspx?pid=PF100100GENS&color=&active=ascry

 

[RichardS]

Greg,

In response to your question on overseas coverage, here in Australia I reckon you could describe the coverage as comprehensive, if you're conservative. It's been all over the news the last 9 months, with growing intensity as the election drew closer. Yesterday saw live coverage on some TV stations. One of our key public broadcasting current affairs programs, PM on ABC Radio, was broadcasting live from various US locations yesterday as well. Nothing much on the New Zealand general election coming up on Saturday.

I guess the feeling is that what happens in the US has a strong impact on us. America sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold, as it were. The sub-prime crisis in the States has had a huge impact on our stock market and economy, even though our financial institutions are quite sound.

As others have noted, I think the general feeling is relief that Bush is gone, and a change will be good. At the same time, I don't think many people really understood Obamas' policies. They don't take much notice of this sort of stuff in their own country.

Sorry for being so serious about this. I just hope the man is able to improve the situation for the US, that's his job, but also gives some consideration to the impact his decisions may have on the rest of the world.

It'll be good not to have the media saturation we've had, and get back to our own problems.

Cheers,

Richard

 

[Smitty]

It will definitely be nice to have a halt to all of the political ads, and even though I didn't vote for him, he's the President-Elect and I respect the position and wish him the best.

We've all got a lot of uphill challenges, and I certainly hope he can improve the situation for all of us...

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

Ok I'm not a brit but I live in the UK - and neither I nor most of my friends truely understand the US system. I won't pretend. But we did have alot of coverage of the campaign, even the Obama / Clinton campaign to become the presidential candidate.

Now that the election is over I'm looking fwd to having my normal garbage returned to my tv screen.