You're absolutely right. The Dems should have played nice with each other and let the voters decide. The negative stuff may have helped them individually, but it's proving detrimental to the party going into the elections. The whole primary/caucus system is screwed up anyway, and certainly dragged on a LOT longer than it should have. I don't see why they can't just have one primary for every state at once, and make that much earlier in the year, rather than drag it out over so many months.

Yes, I agree with that. I looked at some Biden videos after posting my last message, and see how he can come across as a down-to-earth, likable kind of guy you'd love to have a beer with, as the saying goes. He'll just have to be careful around Palin, because she's sure to become the darling of many a voter.

That's true. She might also draw attention away from Obama, a "backseat driver" kind of thing. If he wasn't going with Hillary, though, he should have at least picked a strong female from the party. Picking the old white guy, no matter who he is, will probably turn off some female dems.

It will have a strong impact, no doubt about it. I honestly think one reason Al Gore struggled so much was his choice of VP, who was Jewish. So many people just can't get over that; heck, even being Catholic is seen by some of these types as a mortal sin. When I visited Louisiana this summer I was struck by the blatant racism, everywhere--you'd think you had traveled back in time to the 1950s, or even 1940s! And sadly, it's not better up north, though they do a better job of keeping it subtle. In the south, they're more likely to use the N word and what not, but up north they smile but you still don't get the job.

Yeah, I think you're on to something there Rob about McCain/Palin. Palin is dynamite, and was a brilliant move on McCain's part. Choosing her basically poked a hole in Obama's balloon, since now you can also vote for the Republicans and still feel like you're a progressive. Of course, if the "Troopergate" or whatever it is they're calling it blows up, it could be bad for McCain. Still, she's going to sound great in the debates when they inevitably ask her about Down's Syndrome, etc.

If Hillary had been on Obama's ticket, I think he might have been able to keep up enough momentum to win the election. Choosing anyone else, IMHO (to use Rob's favorite expression) was tantamount to conceding defeat. It seems hard to talk about promoting unity in the party when he obviously couldn't oversee his differences with Hillary and make a united ticket. Meanwhile, can you imagine what it's going to look like when "Bullet Biden" goes after Palin? He's going to look like a total asshole. Hillary could have OWNED her.

Meanwhile, McCain can smirk and act humble and that'll be enough to topple Obama. I'd be willing to bet that he'll actually be very polite and complimentary towards Obama in the debates.

It's also funny, though, how the VP picks seem to agree with their opponents' assessment. McCain was told he's too old and too much the same, so he drafts a young woman. That "proves" the accusations were false. Obama is told he's too young and inexperienced, so he drafts an old Democrat. It seems both choices underscore that these accusations were true! :)

If McCain had chosen Pawlenty, I think Obama could've made it in. But with Palin on McCain's side, the only hope he's got is the Trooper thing, and I'm pretty sure the Reps made DAMN sure there was nothing to that.

Very interesting comments, particulary from Mark Vergeer, who obviously knows America better than most Americans!

There's so many ways that I could comment on the American Presidential campaign, but I'll try to keep it as uncharacteristically short as I possibly can, with plenty of "IMHO's"... It won't be short, though, especially on the subject of politics!

Bottom line: I think Obama has peaked, and is pretty much finished. Unless some major dirt is unearthed or some scandal breaks out on the Republican side, I think the nomination of Gov. Palin as Republican VP has sealed the Democrat side's fate.

Saying this is quite amazing, considering the anti-Bush mood the country is in. Obama ran a brilliant Democrat Primary campaign, coming out of nowhere to defeat the expected shoo-in Hillary Clinton (who gained a lot of respect in my eyes as a tough fighter, and she had much more substance than Obama IMHO), but Obama's Presidential campaign has lost much of its edge (IMHO), especially with the competent but uninspiring Joseph Biden as his choice of running mate. The "sent from God" image Obama initially had has largely faded, with little else to compensate. Obama gives great speeches, but his "off-the-cuff" comments and debate performances were uninspiring, to say the least (he actually sounds WORSE than Bush in many unscripted remarks, IMHO(!!!)). He actually made himself look WEAKER (IMHO again) by choosing the towering and experienced Biden as his running mate. (Note: his DNC convention speech mentioned he was for "safer" nuclear power. Uranium has a half-life of 4.5 MILLION years! How is that safe? Yes, nuclear power scares me.....)

McCain, however, has long been a target of the conservative Republican base, who consider him to be too "liberal" to be their front runner. With such a poor selection of tepid Republican candidates in the primaries, McCain basically won by default, despite the protests of the conservative elite. The rumored consideration of Senator Lieberman (an Independent/Democrat), who is liberal on just about everything except the war in Iraq, as McCains's VP choice really dampened the hopes of the Republicans. IMHO, McCain has nowhere near the charisma of Obama, and comes across as a nice guy with a respectable military history, but is dull and conventional as a Presidential candidate, with not enough policy differences with the previous administration to separate him from Bush.

However, the nomination of Gov. Palin as Vice President has electrified the Republicans! The conservatives are currently exploding with excitement over the selection of Gov. Palin. She is clearly conservative, charismatic, and attractive. Her political experience is questionable, but it's hard for Democrats to attack this when their PRESIDENTIAL canditate has equally (if not more) questionable experience! I listened to her VP acceptance speech, and she comes across as, dare I say it, "Reaganesque!" Unfortunately (like Bush), she still pronounces the word "nuclear" as "nukular." :-( But otherwise, she is an initially inspired and spectacular choice! (We'll see how well she fares in the brutal national politics arena.)

I said in a previous comment that Biden would make a more logical choice as a McCain VP (party affilliation notwithstanding), but Palin initially comes across as a more logical OBAMA VP choice, IMHO. What a strange world we live in.

My prediction : McCain wins the presidency, but only for one term. Americans will decide they've had enough of Republican politics and vote in a Democrat administration. And the Democrat candidate? It might be HILLARY CLINTON! Obama jumped the gun... he should have spent more time in the Senate before embarking on a Presidential campaign. He's boxed himself into a corner, claiming to be a candidate of change, but choosing Biden as his VP. On the other side, McCain, the unconventional "maverick" Republican, will make history if he's elected with a female as his VP! There are ironies all around, considering the Democratic party is considered more progressive.....

(as for copyright/DRM policies, come on, there's no way that's going to be a major issue in a presidential campaign, unfortunately.)

(BTW, as a mixed-ethnicity person myself, I hate seeing Obama labeled as an "African-American" candidate. He's HALF African (Kenyan), half-Caucasian-American. I know many people in my area who won't vote for him simply because he's "black." Well, if they can label him "black," why can't I label him "WHITE?" He's BOTH! I think his mixed heritage and multi-cultural experience gives him a much broader understanding of ethnic issues than a non-mixed-race/multi-cultural person, no matter how "liberal" they think they are...)

(And yes, I'm heavily interested in political science. So much for 'gamers' being a bunch of dweebs with no other interests besides games and "Star Wars," as the comments from members on this site illustrate!)

Okay, that wasn't very short after all, but it's on record... :-(

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Me and a lack of sleep because of a 24+ hrs shift, doing some design work on the PC, trying to catch some sleep, watching the Obama speech and commenting in this forum. Dangerous combination.... grain of salt necessary...

Every world citizen seems to know a little bit of English. I guess it's because the English language is pushed in the media and it's the language of science. The French react to this by becoming more sensitive to the French language and making laws that make it mandatory for French radio stations to play a minimal percentage of Francophone music. In countries where foreign language is audio dubbed English language skills are worse than in countries where subtitles are used.

I was not generalizing - US View/European view - but I was talking about a very specific group of Americans - the folk currently occupying the Whitehouse - the Bush administration! Like I said, I wasn't trying to sound like an elitist US bashing European snob who thinks all US Citizens are ignorant fools. Hey I've practically lived in the US between 1993 and 20001, so I think I know what I am talking about. I have seen more US states than most US citizens during that time. There's educated and uneducated people, both are the same wherever you go. The latter often have a more broader perspective on the world. There's a lot of French, Dutch and German folk who don't look any further beyond their city limits and digest what they are fed by the media. People are the same more or less no matter where you go.

I think it is true that most EU citizens don't know a lot about pre civil war USA. Perhaps most EU citizens think they know a lot about the US. But in reality they only have a superficial knowledge of the culture and history of the US. They probably won't know about the Cohokian culture ( a thriving pre Columbus-culture with big cities - without the knowledge of scripture) that lived in the area around St.Louis (North) way before it was called St.Louis. Nor will they know about New Orleans actually being more Spanish in architecture than French - despite the fact that the old New Orleans city center is called 'The French quarters'. Nor will they know about that great Spanish monastery in San Luis Obisbo or the fact that the hundreds of rusting wind-mills on the west-coast being the result of a weird tax-trick/failing alternative energy government-policies. That people from Missouri actually say they are from Missourah and so forth. Man what 8+ years in and out of the US can do the a EU citizen. :-P

What I do think is that the current Bush-government does seem to know very little about World politics - and can be considered as quite ignorant in quite a few aspects. Both Bush administrations make the same type of mistakes. They seem to solely rely on what intelligence they get from the Israeli and some well off Kuwaiti-families when it comes to the Middle East. This makes the US very vulnerable in a lot of ways. And I don't like that. With Obama, Biden things may change for the better. Biden does have extensive foreign experience. I am afraid that with McCain US foreign politics will be just as crippled as with Bush. I kinda like the 8 years is enough thing from Obama's speech.

McCain choosing the Alaska Governor for vice president as some sort of Hillery Clinton-substitute is amazing and perhaps pretty smart. What does amaze me is that it really is a strategic political game where people are sometimes chosen for the wrong reasons - in my views. I like what Obama said about the right to bear arms in relation to guns and gangs. The Alaska-governor won't have anything intelligent to say about it being a member of the NRA.

Now I need to get off this high-horse and go to bed. Right away!

Editor / Pixelator - Armchair Arcade, Inc.
www.markvergeer.nl