Blog retrospective: The American Election

It has truly been a weird year and in the first of two summaries over 2008 I will write my comment on the presidential election in the US. When I first started writing this blog I never saw it as a channel for me to propel my political views. I will of course deviate from this track with this comment and highlight what I thought was the key moments in the Obama campaign.

I remember very well when I lived in Boston 2004 and when I first saw Barack Obama speak. My second cousins had worked on the Dem’s campaign to elect John Kerry – an absolute train wreck as a politician – who later lost greatly to an aggressive Bush campaign. At that time Barack Obamas victorious campaign for the senate was one of the few highlights that the Dem’s had that year. Then, I had no idea or not even a slightest thought in my head that Obama would later become the 44th president of the US. So, what did I find so intriguing about him? Well, his story was and is mesmerizing; coming from an interracial background, being raised by his grandparents to being accepted Harvard Law School and there becoming the first black editor for the Harvard Law Review. Well, some might argue “he is not different only because he is black” but the meaning is different, and that counts.

What made Obamas campaign so different? Obama launched an effective “grass roots movement” and managed through small donations en masse conquer the White House. Whenever I have read about this in Scandinavian press, I have found it hard to actually get a grip about what it is that he has actually done different than others before him, except launching a web site and discussion boards etc. To me, this doesn’t really strike me as very progressive or different, it is just that Obamas web site has become popular, people have actually sought out his details on the internet and logged on. Why? This I think is of course very easy and is a word with four letters, B-U-S-H. Bush has been an absolute disaster for the US, not through his actions but because of a completely moronic attitude and lack of cultural understanding. Add an unpopular war that was deemed victorious in 2004 and you have a mixture that the real average Joe in the US doesn’t like (and I am not talking about Joe Sixpack Wurzelbacher here). Bush forced the majority of voters who earlier backed him into something different, and through his constant flirting with the evangelicals; he managed to alienate the ordinary American people. Well, Obama did not run against Bush, but against McCain.

Why did McCain lose? Well, In my opinion McCain was an outstanding candidate that under “normal” circumstances would have won against Obama. There were some factor that didn’t function for McCain, such as being a Maverick inside the Republicans (or the Grand Old Party as they are called in the US). Being a Maverick in the GOP is not good, since you are acting out and being uncomfortable, such as speaking against the usage of torture and closing weird military facilities in Cuba (I see some similarities with the Swedish Socialist Erik Åström, who got the boot because of “truth telling”). In the field of candidates though, McCain stood out as a fantastic, managing to wipe his other contenders off the field and unite a GOP under pressure (Mitt Romney and Rudy Guilliani dropped out fairly quickly – the other two realistic candidates). The GOP played a strong game, and were ahead at the same time as the Dem’s seemed like drunk driver moving all over the place, and Hillary Clinton attacking Obama (remember the commercial where she answers the phone in the morning?). Well, here she made her largest mistake, running on a platform of electability and being ready from day 1. This message was as interesting for the US public as being given a foot massage by a sledge hammer. Hillary ended up chasing a man with momentum, constantly hammering on his single vague message – change. It was not the same medicine, it was a new medicine and people liked it.

Along came two extremely strong candidates, one with a fantastic track record of public service, another one with a fantastic charisma and speaking abilities not seen or heard since Churchill and JFK. Here, somewhere along the way… McCain slipped, and he slipped badly. The whole mess up with going to Washington but not still going when the financial crisis hit the big fan was a major issue for the campaign. In my opinion, I never really saw the “real” McCain during the entire year, I saw a man on a leash from the GOP. Weak appearances on Ellen DeGeneres show did not help when Michelle Obama seemed to become one of the most able first lady’s on the same show.

Another very wise choice from Obama was to be bold enough to choose a VP candidate who had critized him because of his lack of experience, and told the public that through discussion you get the best results, not through an intact unity. He also managed to fill the spaces where he was weak, such as in the international scene. The same cannot be said about the VP from the GOP. Sarah Palin emerged as the political MILF from hell and shocked the political landscape. It didn’t start well for Palin, taking cover for her daughters teen pregnancy and then buying clothes for 150k when the financial system was collapsing. Appearances on Katie Couric dindt go well, and McCain accused the program of being a “gotcha journalism” (wasn’t it just normal questions?). In the end the GOP had now become the drunk driver, accusing the Dem’s of being socialist and letting the watchdog Palins attack Obama for his conspiracy with William Ayers (an American terrorist). This focus was so tedious and so boring that it was ludicrous since Obama was 8 when Ayers made his deeds – he is now a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Back to the interview of Palin; If you cannot name the news papers you read, you are not fit to run the biggest economy in the world. Palin was a tragic decision and very unwise and I rely on the fact that nothing, never, has anything important become of a loosing VP candidate. Edwards failed, thank you.

To me, election day was decided well before hand – you could almost feel it (or was it hope?). When I saw Obamas speech, I thought to myself, this story could only happen in one country in the world and only there. The message that the American people sent around the world was one of change, equality and willingness to be different. To think that the economic effects of electing McCain/Palin 08 would be greater than electing someone who can restore a the US as the democratic light in the world is – in my belief – naïve.

Obama (+): Clear message, fantastic oral abilities

Obama (-): Nothing, really
McCain (+): Very very little, said "no" to the usage of torture

McCain (-): Choice of VP, no single message, too old
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Overall: I dont think that Obamas victory would have been possible without the financial crisis, unfortunately