Mutatio gratia mutationis
True, I tend to prefer the Obama-Biden ticket, but I identify with the feelings expressed in this cartoon by Tom Janssen about the exaggerated (mostly positive, uncritical) attention of Dutch ( and other (foreign) ) media for Mr Obama. I also get really annoyed when I hear people like Michael Stipes tell the world that they will emigrate from the US if Mr McCain gets ( or maybe they mean: if Mr Obama is not ) elected in November. Where are all those artists and others who claimed something similar four years ago? Most probably still in their homeland. Like many world citizens I was not impressed with the democratic process through which Bush jr. was elected once, but saying that you will leave your country if you do not get your political way can hardly be considered democratic either. I do believe that big changes in America’s foreign and domestic policies are necessary and that the Bush administrations have been a disaster in more than one way, but turning change into a meaningless mantra does not really convince me, and I understand why some voters get scared by the change-for-change’s-sake slogans. When it comes to personalities, I have great sympathy and admiration for John McCain and for his service record, probably more than for Barack Obama(’s). If only the GOP candidate was 10, 15 years younger, had a VP who has any known positions on foreign policy, and was supported by a different party…
