With only two months left until the November US presidential elections, one wonders what the world will be like after George W. Bush retires back to Crawford, Texas, after plunging his country and the world into an abyss led by colorful-named crusades such as “the war on terror” – an enemy that is everywhere but nowhere. Since we are fighting terrorism, which is a problem, the Bush administration saw it as a carte blanche to go above the law and the constitution.
While I do not think Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden will change very much the balance of power in the United States, they do offer a hope after two ruinous Bush administrations . Another big question mark that some have been asking is what will G.O.P. (Grand Old Party = Republican Party) John McCaine and his number 2, Sarah Palin, bring to the White House if elected? Will it be an extension of the Bush administration or something worse?
McCain’s acceptance speech on Thursday at the Republican Convention in St Paul, Minnesota, was filled with so much trite nationalism that it was scary. If only the United States was and could be like he pictured it… But taking into account the challenges of global warming, the loss of the US’ economic might, the military quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, all he could do was put the United States on a pedestal and talk about its nobel cause his world order of things.
One of the things that you got to watch out for — especially after the United States elected Bush — is who these candidates really are. What are their real agendas. If enough voters would have had more information about Bush in 2000 when he ran against Al Gore, the world would probably be a different place today.
But we have to thank Bush for one thing: he messed up so badly that it paved the way for a new refreshing era in US politics: We have today a black presidential and woman vice presidential contender for the White House.
There was a really good editorial in the New York Times which, I believe, exposes what is McCaine’s and Palin’s real agenda.
Here is a letter from a person who knows Palin in her home town/village of Wasilla. The letter was a real eye-opener for me.