dimanche 9 mars 2008
Message from the rest of the world to the US:
Get on with it already.
Don't you think over a year of campaigning is enough?
Just pick your darn candidates already.
At least here in France the vote narrows down the field (and by field we mean every political party, not just Democrat and Republican) to the top two vote winners, and then two weeks later the final is held. Not state after state of primary elections, followed by months of final campaigning. Plus, I think the bad thing about the US system is that the later the state is, the less the voters in that state are likely to vote their true opinion- their candidate is perhaps behind, so they figure "Why bother voting for him/her when there is no chance now that she/he will win?" If the primary election is held for the entire country on the same date, it seems more fair.
I voted in the "Democrats Abroad" Election, the result of which had a delegate count of Big Whoop and wasn't even covered in the US news, as far as I could tell.
Of all the candidates, I respect John McCain the most. He was my college graduation speaker.
However, I don't think I agree the most with his views/stances.
I have had to explain several times that No, there isn't going to be a final run-off for President between a female candidate and an African-American candidate. Yeah, all those news reports? Still haven't even gotten to the real thing. There is a half a year left of annoying non-stop coverage for your enjoyment.
Get on with it already.
Don't you think over a year of campaigning is enough?
Just pick your darn candidates already.
At least here in France the vote narrows down the field (and by field we mean every political party, not just Democrat and Republican) to the top two vote winners, and then two weeks later the final is held. Not state after state of primary elections, followed by months of final campaigning. Plus, I think the bad thing about the US system is that the later the state is, the less the voters in that state are likely to vote their true opinion- their candidate is perhaps behind, so they figure "Why bother voting for him/her when there is no chance now that she/he will win?" If the primary election is held for the entire country on the same date, it seems more fair.
I voted in the "Democrats Abroad" Election, the result of which had a delegate count of Big Whoop and wasn't even covered in the US news, as far as I could tell.
Of all the candidates, I respect John McCain the most. He was my college graduation speaker.
However, I don't think I agree the most with his views/stances.
I have had to explain several times that No, there isn't going to be a final run-off for President between a female candidate and an African-American candidate. Yeah, all those news reports? Still haven't even gotten to the real thing. There is a half a year left of annoying non-stop coverage for your enjoyment.
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5 commentaires:
Yep...
Even if the primary contest is not inherently a bad thing, the fact that every state hold their primary at different dates is a bad thing in my opinion, and for many different reasons, the main ones being:
-the later states opinion matter less as you mentioned.
-this sort of "civil war" among people from the same party can hurt them if like this year, one party has a clear winner weeks before the other.
-it just takes too long.
-I'm sure I can find more reasons...
Also, I don't know if it's just me, but I have the feeling that this year is much longer and more intense than in 2004 and 2000 (I don't know before that, I was not in the US, I had never heard of the internet and the French didn't care about the primary back then).
Maybe it's because it's the first time since.... since I have no idea when, but could be 1976 (1988 maybe?) that both parties have a primary the same year... that and the fact that it's the first time a woman and a black man have a good chance to be elected...
I can't believe that you would actually "respect" McCain. He is George Bush times ten. If he should win the Presidency, we will be in Iraq (and probably Iran) for at least as long as he remains in the White House. No, there is no respect here for John McCain, only loathing.
It's all a mystery to me. It seems to have been going on for 28 years.
When is the actual final election anyway? PLEASE don't say another year and a half, I hope you were exaggerating!
FYI, Dems Aborad was covered fairly heavily one day by MPR (NPR??). Was interesting to hear from my standpoint.
I couldn't possibly ever stand behind McCain; everything he believes in pretty much goes against what I feel deep down in my gut, but I don't admittedly know a whole lot about him. He just kinda gives me the creeps, and I agree that if he were to be elected, we'll be involved in war for quite some time -- and that makes me VERY nervous.
I agree that the primaries seem to be going on for far too long, but I think this is the first time in YEARS that there has been more than one candidate who has a good chance of winning the Democratic Primary -- it really is running neck-to-neck between Clinton and Obama, and although it was exciting at first, I kind of wish we could come to a conclusion too... I'm impatient for a final decision to be made in the election in November, but at the same time, I'm almost fearful of the result!