The French media have been obsessing over the U.S. presidential election for months. And while this morning the headlines are focused on Sarkozy's trip to Syria and the growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate is right up there. (And I take it that she gave a rock'em sock'em speech at the Republican convention in Minnesota last night.) So just what do the French make of this? Well, after spending a lot of time perusing Le Monde, Le Figaro, Liberation, and bunch of blogs (this after spending way too much time reading the Washington Post and the New York Times), my only conclusion is that they don't know what to think. Europeans in general have been so excited about the prospect of Obama becoming president that they seemed to have forgotten that he hasn't yet been elected. The tone overall is one of shock and not so much over Palin's qualifications and any skeletons she might have in her closet. The sense of incredulity is more around the paradox that although George Bush has lost the confidence of the American people, his political base still has power both within the Republican party and in the nation at large. To Americans like myself who are beyond ready for a change, this is scary but not really shocking. It's definitely going to be an interesting couple of months.
3 comments:
If you are for guns and against abortions (even in the case of rape), if you are for someone who claims to be against big oil, but votes for them, then Sarah Palin should be your choice for VP. I think everyone was a bit surprised that McCain would choose Palin after having talked to her only once (pretty much the way he does everything) and most of us believe it's only because Obama didn't choose Hillary. It's too bad the Dems didn't hold their convention after the GOP. I would love to have known what McCain's choice might have been in that case.
Palin is the most cynical choice McCain could have made. Putting this fundamentalist, lying, hockey head anywhere near global power not only shows contempt and complete lack of judgement but endangers the country. Palin was/is unvetted; it turns out she left her little town of Wassila in debt ($3k per person), went up against two US oil companies and handed over the oil gig to a Canadian one (wow), lobbied for the Bridge to Nowhere but bailed when it was ridiculed in the lower 48 states and who really knows about Trig the baby. There's Troopergate, and plenty of things we need to know about this woman now. But she's taking a two-week hiatus from the press (the only people who could vet her) and "speaking directly to the American people." My hope is that this story gets flushed out so completely she's forced from the ticket and McCain is forced to retire.
My thoughts are here: http://storefrontwindows.blogspot.com/
Feel free to post it, print it, blog it.
It is daunting to read about women who saying that they now have someone to vote for in this election. Meanwhile, Palin does no press conferences, no interviews and Obama's campaign continues to stall out. It's hard not to feel dismayed. ---AMS
Post a Comment