I am just seeing some very intersting parrellels between Obama and our new PM, Kevin Rudd.
Rudd was literally swept to power on the promise of commitment, change, protecting the working class (etc).
Very good at public speaking, has a number of languages under his belt and all that. He's also in his mid forties.
Its been some time since the election and I almost miss the conservatives. Reason: Rudd spends more time on airplanes and coming up withgrand vision schemes than he seems to spend on dealing with grass roots social and commercial problems.
So far, I'm not impressed by the current Australian Labour Govt.
I have a nagging feeling that Barack may also raise hopes too high. I don't think he will be another Kennedy (or for that matter Clinton).
I hope I am wrong, and certainly anything is better than another 8 years of the GOP, but I would urge people to not expect change too fast or in too great a form if Obama wins, simply because only once he is in the hot seat will we see what he can actually do, rather than how good he is at public speaking.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
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Meh. Politicians are all the same, really. They couldn't afford not to be; they're in power by the grace of the rich - all that media coverage needs money, and it's rather easy for a bunch of rich people to dirty a man's reputation if they don't think he's a very good president. It sounds either paranoid or perfectly reasonable depending on your bias...
Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: Hmmm.... Screwing up the housing market versus chucking brown people in prison without charge indefinitely and approving horrific tortures upon them such as sleep deprivation and waterboarding... I still think we have you beat
Oh, I definitely agree, although Brown is trying his hardest to catch up with our 42-day detention rules. Was just picking up on your use of the word 'incompetent' as the current bunch of idiots in charge of this country couldn't find their arsehole even if they were allowed to use both hands. I expect our politicians to be slightly doddery and not great at their jobs, but do they have to shove it in our face the whole time and remove any last facade that they are capable of governing the country? I'm firmly with Winston Churchill on this one - Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the other ones that have been tried.
Registered: May 2005
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I can see the arguments for compulsory voting. The problem is that under our system, I think you'd have to pass an amendment to implement it.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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"Hmmm.... Screwing up the housing market versus chucking brown people in prison without charge indefinitely and approving horrific tortures upon them such as sleep deprivation and waterboarding... I still think we have you beat"
Not really "versus", though, is it? We've got both.
Registered: Mar 1999
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"...but I've never seen or heard of a government this blatantly incompetent or so obviously corrupt as this one."
I assume you mean "a British government". Because, if not, I could point out that we've got you beat over here right now, just for one example.
Yes, you assume correctly. I should have been more explicit on that point. There have of course been worse governments, just not here...at least not for quite a while...well, not since that duck egg was appointed chancellor by George III...
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If you want to see what the Conservatives do when they're in power, watch how Boris Johnson acts as mayor of London. Since being elected he's become nothing more than a puppet to an unelected cabal of Tory grandees, and has delegated responsibility to a bunch of spin doctors and asset-stripping entrepreneurs. They've cut provisions for low-cost public transport for those one social security, and removed the anti-racism message from an anti-racism music festival. Their pledges to streamline building application planning approvals has resulted in all manner of big-money corporate schemes getting the go-ahead regardles of local opposition - markets replaced with skyscrapers, school playing fields sold off for development, social housing requirements dropped from other developments.
I will never vote for them, ever. But it's looking inevitable they'll get in. We're fucked.
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"Your guilty consciences force you to vote Democratic, but secretly you yearn for a cold-hearted Republican who’ll cut taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king! You need me, Springfield!"
quote:Originally posted by Lee: I will never vote for them, ever. But it's looking inevitable they'll get in. We're fucked.
The grass is always greener. Hopefully it'll make Labour wake up and be a bit more consistent next time they get in.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Once again they're wrongfooted by having it revealed what they really think, despite Cameron's best efforts. Yup, it's official, the Tories don't need to do anything to help the most deprived areas of the country because if the people living there were sensible they'd move. But, since they don't, they're obviously lazy or stupid or criminal so deserve everything they (don't) get.
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You know, for all of Liverpools faults, they have two things going for them. They won't buy the Sun, and they'd never, ever vote Conservative.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Lee: If you want to see what the Conservatives do when they're in power, watch how Boris Johnson acts as mayor of London. Since being elected he's become nothing more than a puppet to an unelected cabal of Tory grandees, and has delegated responsibility to a bunch of spin doctors and asset-stripping entrepreneurs. They've cut provisions for low-cost public transport for those one social security, and removed the anti-racism message from an anti-racism music festival. Their pledges to streamline building application planning approvals has resulted in all manner of big-money corporate schemes getting the go-ahead regardles of local opposition - markets replaced with skyscrapers, school playing fields sold off for development, social housing requirements dropped from other developments.
I will never vote for them, ever. But it's looking inevitable they'll get in. We're fucked.
I think so. But then I thought that when we voted Labour in...not that I was wrong, either way it's not good but there seams to be a lack of alternatives. Though I have been a long time LibDem voter, I honestly think that if by some miracle they ever did get into office that it'd be like the proverbial puppy that finally caught the equally proverbial bus; they'd be so shocked they wouldn't know what do with it.
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