This is my first post here, and I'd like to stress that as a Brit, I sometimes think my own countrymen can be a little too easily persuaded by the media over here when it comes to coverage of the elections - we do tend to get it in brief snips though television and the "mainstream" newspapers.
First of all, let me establish I'm deeply interested in the election, am a serious fan of America and am actually far more patrotic towards the nation than my own (strange, I know, but I almost feel, spiritually, like an American - just as a small example, it shocks me that 9/11 isn't remembered with a moment of silence in the UK, maybe it isn't in the US, I'm not sure, but it deeply bothers me).
Getting back to Britain's view of this election, I asked a girl at work the other day what she thought of the candidates for president. She said "I hope Obama wins, that woman shouldn't be President". I nearly slapped myself on the forehead, then decided against it and proceeded to ask her why she wanted to vote Obama if she could have rather than Palin (who she thought was the 'other' candidate). She said "because he's a black guy and I think it would do America good". Now, while in principle I agree, she was completely unaware of any of Obama's policies, and seemed to look at him in the "rockstar" light that everyone seems to be casting him in (and in some cases, he doesn't help himself with this image). She didn't even know who John McCain was, or what either of the candidates political affiliations were - the buzz around Palin has been so huge she's almost swallowed McCain whole, at least that's how it appears sometimes when you judge it by the headlines over here.
What disturbs me is how unaware people not from the US generally are on the candidates policies - they may think it doesn't concern or affect them (while it does), but things are just taken at face value unless you make a concious effort to find out what's going on in the election. Sure, people can rail at John McCain for having several houses and having suspicious backers, bu they conveniently forget Obama was under investiagtion due to his relationship with a corrupt estate agent a few years back.
I also disapprove of how Obama claims McCain's winning the election would mean a "third term" for the Bush administration. I don't think this is true at all - McCain may have backed nearly all of Bush's decisions, including the invasion of Iraq, but the simply labe him as the continuation of a bad administration is unfair - and a lot of McCain's policies would directly contradict Bush's.
Having said that, I am certainly backing Obama, and seriously wish I had an actual vote in the election - but it isn't up to us Brits or Europeans - it's Americans, and it's their decision to make, for right or wrong. I just feel it's time. There's something almost Kennedy-like about Obama - an air of plain likeableness, however "elite" he is sometimes painted to be (remember this normally refers to his political party and not Obama himself), and while he has questionable experience, this is what the States needs if you ask me. Republicans have dominated the elections for thirty years, and the Bush administration has seen a crescendo of selfish, apathetic politics finally climax - how much more can America take? This is a nation constructed on an idea - yet that idea seems so far away right now, it's almost lost entirely. So it's time to bring that idea back, or to forge a new one. While Obama's race is a poor reason for winning the election (infact, it is not a relevant one) it is symbolic in that he will be the FIRST African American to successfully win the Presidency, hopefully ushering in a new age in a nation (no disrespect, Americans) gone awry.
Meanwhile McCain feels like rhetoric - that's what the Republicans have become. Palin meanwhile, is so unfit for the job that I won't even begin to tackle the numerous reasons why. It's time for a change. Vote Obama.
Oh, and if anyone thinks I'm some kind of undercover Democrat campaign worker - good, offer me a job!
