The American Presidential Elections - 35 days and counting.
Historic elections, opportunity for renewal, best days ahead of us, evil Republicans, tax 'n' spend Democrats, economic crisis, hard working families, hard pressed families, average Americans, change, change for the best, change to win, change for a change, blah, blah, blah.
Check out this site - its astonishing how nothing has changed at all.
McGovern in 1972 was banging on about 'the people', Carter in 1976 was all about 'change', Reagan in 1980 was pushing the economy and the other guy not turning up at debates. Even Eisenhower in 1952 was talking about 'cleaning up Washington.'
Exactly the same themes as are being employed this time round.
But all that pales into insignificance against images of a fresh faced George W Bush! I was in the USA during the campaign in 2000 and it was inconceivable to me that he could ever win. And then he won twice! Do not put it past Americans to shock us again. It seems to me the country is gripped with fear and loathing, the product of decades of the same turkeys all dressed up in fresh wrappers every 4 years.
The last time a woman was on the ticket was 1984 and the site reminds us how much stick she got, just for being a woman. This time around the media attacks on Sarah Palin have bordered on hysterical. I always work on the assumption that if you're making people jealous and angry and resentful then you must be doing something right.
Perhaps the Democrats slogan should be 'Vote for change - then spend 4 years learning what the word really means.'
No comments:
Post a Comment