Politics

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The British view: whoever wins the US election, John McCain…

Politics – The world is watching. It is interesting what the opinions are.

Tags: politics, obama, clinton, mccain, british

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GM - OK, so I'll get slated for this BUT....

FTA - Populus interviewed 757 adults by telephone between May 2 and 4 on the Clinton versus Obama question, and 544 of these people between May 6 and 7 on a recall question about the choice of president.

OK, so that's approx 1/50,000th of the adult population of the UK. Bearing in mind that the majority of those people only know what they see on whichever slanted news channel they watch, I'd say that was a fairly feeble census to cite...

Personally speaking, ALL three of the top contenders have their issues, problems and reasons why I'd want a fourth person to vote for (were I a US citizen).....

BUT, it does make the article worth reading, if for no other reason to see how people can make opinions, policy, decisions on such a small percieved "reality".....

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Sorry DM, but I didn't need to read this article to know it is accurate.

My brother is a Clinton supporter, who travels on business to most of the European nations, including Japan, China, and Indonesia. Despite his personal preference, he reports that there is overwhelming support of Obama in every country he visits.

In fact, he states that they are generally more educated about Obama than most average Americans. Unlike the ignorance characteristic to West Virginia ( and other areas), foreigners do not believe he is Muslim or a supporter of Hamas. It is unfortunate to admit that our population reads less factual information about the candidates and relies more on the msm spin.

Considering the reliability of my source and the feedback that we get from relatives who live in Europe, Obama is the candidate most enthusiastically supported throughout the world.

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SC - I'll accept your personal experience, but, with all due respect, I live here ! As a basic seperation, you have to deal with the age factor (amongst others). You talk to anyone over the age of 40 (say), they'll be cynical enough to be wary of ALL politicians (unless they are locked into their personal "party"), so will naturally gravitate to the oldest (read most respectable) candidate. Talk to the younger section of the population, and that purely depends on the country......

Despite the advances made in equality, racism is still one hellova fact of life, and the UK, France & Germany (to name the 3 largest economies in Europe) are still inherently racist when it comes down to power (IMHO).....

I'd love to see a poll from above 3 countries to disprove my cynicism...........

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I only consider their opinions as a change for all those foreigners who despise Bush. We need a president who will restore our reputation with our allies.

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To clarify to everyone, Europe despises Bush... not the United States. In fact most Europeans support closer relations with the US according to a recent Gallup poll I saw. We are, as people, fairly well liked even if its thought its best to speak with us one at a time and a bout non-political matters... its our fool in charge who is despised!

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That is the feeling in my part of the world as well.

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While I agree with you there is a growing number of Canadians who just shake their heads and look at the US as the Anti-Christ. The more you dig into world affairs to more you find wrong with the US governments past and present, if the US wants the rest of the world to like them and support them they need to take a new path, one involving honesty for a change.

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Please remember what the government is doing is NOT what the people want, we are helplessly being spoken for but this is not what we want, we had what we wanted under Clinton.

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Clinton isn't what we wanted anymore then Bush Sr was. Obama is closer to what we really want. Bush Jr is extremely far away.

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The one problem with Obama is he hasn't committed to do any of the changes need to bring the country back from it's current failings, he has played his card very close.

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I want to see what he does on campaign financing. The last I saw, after McCain agreed to public financing, Obama said that details would have to be worked out.

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McCain agreed to public financing before he illegally dropped public financing.

The Dems are suing him over this now. Every dollar he spends is in violation of the same law he authored and voted for.

So much for details.

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"Clinton isn't what we wanted anymore", I don't agree, when Clinton left office we where in the black, not at war and the economy was doing well.

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NAFTA is the biggest thing that comes to mind.

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Mdair and you can not blame NAFTA SOLELY on Clinton. You would also have to blame the previous presidents as well.

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Whoooaaa...Which "we" are you speaking for here? I'm curious...

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Myself and everyone else who doesn't like NAFTA?

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NAFTA wasn't THE defining moment of his Presidency (and...that other thing wasn't either so don't even go there). ;-P

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No, his defining moment was getting a B J from a coed. Like any of us really wanted to hear about that.

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Mdiar after the Reagan years and Bush part 1 Clinton is what I and the people I know wanted.

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I know that and I never said I was one who thought the US was the Anti-Christ. I'm so happy I'm not American because I simply don't see any easy way out for you and it troubles me. Electing a new President will change nothing as the same people will still be calling the shots with money in the Capital. Armed rebellion will destroy what little economy the country has left. And the one way that might work, protests and national strikes don't get the support needed to achieve anything. The one thing that might work is a strong international community to bring US government officials including the executive branch to justice for their crimes but we all know the countries who need to work together will never do that. I wish I had an answer as I'm sure everyone does.

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I would like to see Bush investigated and if wrong doings proven, charged and taken to court. I believe a lot of things have transpired that the public is unaware of. The public deserves the truth, as they are paying the price of his pas decisions.

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Its not going to happen before an international court. Maybe a US court as Obama has said his AG would investigate wrong-doing on Bush's part. After that's done maybe the international court will have a whack at him if the rest of the world stops worrying about offending the United States, which is just as much a problem as the United States caring little about the world.

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"Despite the advances made in equality, racism is still one hellova fact of life, and the UK, France & Germany (to name the 3 largest economies in Europe) are still inherently racist when it comes down to power (IMHO)..."

As with many things, what's "one hellova fact of life" is relative. A friend of mine in Italy recently told me how worried he was about the possible negative impact the new more conservative leadership there could have on gay rights. Without dismissing his concerns, I reminded him that their right wing and the US conservative party are very different, that things could be way worse (as we are still way the hell behind Europe wrt gay rights) and that the pendulum would likely swing back the other way before too long.

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In Canada....McCain is not an option for most...there are Hilary fans and Obama fans... The majority favor Obama. We look at the US politics and wonder why grown adults perform as children....using name calling and emphasizing minor character flaws, while ignoring the big picture.

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Our own politicians don't seem to be much better lately. Our own Premier told reporters Islanders need to adapt to high fuel cost while voting to give himself an 11% pay increase and using the governments credit card to fill his car.

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He must have a bigger car. and a boat...and a pool and a hot tub....he probably needs the income..LOL

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Oh I know what he needs, somebody to remove the silver spoon from his mouth and make him use his own money for a change. In power two years and so far two unbalanced budgets, not an impressive record.

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...does he need a silver foot in his ass???

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"wonder why grown adults perform as children"

It's called "The Good Ole Boys Club", but we have been dismantling them for about 20 some years. Most of them are dying off and McCain and Kennedy were part of that era.

We can no longer play that game with the lobbyists and corporations, it is time for a government of the people. We have been slowly taking back the government, one last election and it will be "Democratic"controlled again.

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Things are getting worse and not better, this election is a joke, anything but the real issues facing the country have been talked about.

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The way I see it, in order to improve the system we have, we need people in power who aren't actively working to keep things dysfunctional. Frankly, I can't fathom how anyone who has watched the current administration work as hard as it has to tear down government and dismantle any sort of regulatory influences could vote for another Republican ever again. I don't see it. You can't expect reform if you keep voting for people who resist it.

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Well... I posted this earlier but it seems to have decided I'm not good enough to post on this thread :P Anyway, here's what I said:

I was speaking with a couple of my friends who live in Europe... one a Brit, one a Swede. I speak with them regularly. I mentioned McCain's 2013 promise. The Brit said that sure, he'll pull the combat troops out of Iraq and put them into Iran. Actually she said it a second before I did... I've noticed, in general, the British and the American perspective can be remarkably similar at times. The Brit though, has no preference... the Swede seems to like Clinton more then Obama. He really wants a woman to be President, he says. He first liked Paul... which is no surprise to me. He's one of those people who believes the United States shouldn't be involved anywhere. He believes no one should be involved anywhere, actually. I'd say that his main reason for liking Clinton is Bill. The Brit seems to lean a bit more towards Obama.

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I'm over 40 and I have learned to never trust a politician especially when their mouth is moving. However, I found this comment FTA interesting:

"The trouble with Obamamania, however, is the risk of excessive expectations, and consequent disillusionment when/if American policies change less than hoped."

*****True, let's not let expectations cloud reality.*****

I personally consider OBama at several levels, an 'interesting' person, yet inexperienced politically. An' from what I know and have experienced; DC, even on a very rare and benevolent day, is not for the politically inexperienced at any level.

By the way, when did Britain become the 51st State? For I've been told by people of admittedly questionable social and moral character(High friends in low places.) that England still considers the US as "The Colonies".

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My sister has talked to our realtives in Norway, Russia, Germany and West Virginia and they seem to favor McCain overall.

Although the male relatives from Russia sorta think that Hillary is really hot in a 'State Farm worker girl' sort of way.

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You have a very atypical bunch of relatives!

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That I do.

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This just SHOWS that the Bush Administration (and the Republicans) have COMPLETELY ruined the United States in the eyes of the World. Let's hope that America, Britain (and the World) have a better President of the United States on January 20, 2009.

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To be honest, as someone who has considered American Politics a contradiction in terms since 1962, I should probably recuse myself from this topic.

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I guess it's too bad for Obama the British can't vote in our elections, huh? Btw, if we could vote in theirs wonder if they would be different?

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Ahh, spoken like a true moral relativist con... Wolfie, if ONLY you and others on the right had taken such a dim view of the opinions of those in the international community during the Clinton years. Heaven knows our country wouldn't be the trainwreck it is today.

But I suppose that wingers wouldn't have been able to swoon, fein outrage and wring your hands (much the same way you're reacting to the Wright "scandal") about the "shame" and "dishonor" Clinton's affair had brought to the White House and America. Of course, just as you're now pretending that voting for the wildly vacillating McCain really ain't no big thang (unlike the egregious sin it supposedly was in '04), once Bush was in the White House, you suddenly couldn't care less what the world thought of us. Self-serving con hypocrisy is utterly breathtaking. ;-)

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Wolfie

If you were Irish you could vote in the UK Parliamentary Elections to elect an MP, and always have been able to do so.

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agh! Really sorry to have missed the main "meat" of this thread, a really useful one, and with a wider perspective than many of the pol pieces.

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