That period includes the Clinton and Blair victories. So I would not conclude too much from an Obama victory.

The electoral failure of Big Government Conservatism may not be so reassuring a sign for Big Government Liberalism, as people tend to think.

Imagine if you’re looking at the TV and you see someone who not only passed all his exams, not only helped others in his community but is also charming and attracts the crowds. And you’re frustrated at your own inadequacies of not having done well at school, not being involved in charity/community work and find it difficult to express yourself in public. Who would you relate to better?

It’s all moral theatre, it’s not about foreign policy. Telling and framing a narrative that’s so unthinktable (I know foreign policy because I live next to Russia) that people forget the initial purpose of the debate (who can defend the US’ interests better) and focus on symbolic positions (Palin’s stupid, she shouldn’t therefore be VP versus stop patronising Palin, she’s a normal person like the rest of us), which give you a 50/50 chance of attracting the voter.

this video here is unbeatable
http://everydaysocialdemocracy.blogspot.com/2008/10/im-sorry-i-forgot.html

Yesterday he was leading in every single country in the world apart from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

McCain seems to have fought back over night. He is now ahead in Namibia, Sudan and Algeria and – perhaps not surprisingly – in Iraq. He is also gaining in Macedonia, Georgia and Moldova. Somehow I don’t think this is going to be enough. Anyway, go across and vote.

http://www.economist.com/vote2008/?source=hpevents&source=hpevents

But to answer Sunny’s question properly, who I’d really like is someone a bit like Dennis Kucinich, but witha bit of Obama’s charisma. But I’ll settle for Obama–I just wish his trade policies were a little more liberal and a little less ’stop-the-world’. Ah well.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/23/barack-obama-us-assassination-us-elections

I do wonder what the nutjobs will do if, as seems ever more likely, Obama actually does win the popular vote and the electoral college by enough to prevent the Supreme Court from awarding the election to McCain.

I’ve just read McPherson’s “Battle Cry of Freedom” (thanks to a recommendation on a link from this site) and I was very struck with the similarity of language used by the defenders of slavery before 1861 and that of the nutjobs to-day. The abolitionists were going to destroy Christianity, civilisation and the Constitution – no amount of hate was too great, no vitriol was spared.

I’m not suggesting that the USA is likely to fall apart any time soon, it clearly isn’t, merely that the nutjobs aren’t going to go away. They will probably look first to the Supreme Court to strike down Obama’s legislation, and I expect the idea of a “Christian amendment” to the Constitution to be revived.