The media have been going crazy talking about the potential advantages but mostly disadvantages facing an African American and a female presidential candidate. Will blacks vote for Obama? Not necessarily—for the multitudes of African Americans expunged from electoral lists and denied the right to vote, race is indeed not an issue, not an issue, that is, as far as the candidates are concerned, more of an issue where police chases are concerned. Ready, set, go! To take but one, single, individual example, the Washington Post reports that “[…] Tampa residents were among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of non-felons in Florida who civil rights lawyers contend were wrongly prevented from voting in the Nov. 7 election after state election officials and a private contractor bungled an attempt to cleanse felons from voter rolls.” Needless to say that these disenfranchised residents were overwhelmingly minorities and I dare not even mention the effects of Katrina… Unfortunately for Obama, in today's America there may very well only be one presidential race.
Could a woman or an African American be a viable candidate for president in 2008? Are Americans ready? What’s in a name? Why are the soles of my new shoes squeaking? Where did I put my car keys this time? Where oh where has my little dog gone? Oops, I digress. Back to "what's in a name?": “New Q-Poll Highlights Name Power” reports the New York Times. Is Hillary advantaged by her name recognition or does this merely point out her lack of charisma when compared to Bill and/or bind her to all of the old impeachment baggage? Perhaps Americans are growing weary of oscillating between Bushes and
Pundits have seized upon the liabilities not only of Obama’s race but also of his name and its sonorous similarities that may subconsciously evoke latent prejudices or just plain unhappy thoughts: Barak/Iraq, Hussein/Saddam or insane, take your pick or go crazy and subliminally splurge on both! Obama/Osama. However, they seem to have quite unjustly neglected to acknowledge the uphill onomastic battle facing ex
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
A Black, a Woman and a Giu...!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Now this is your finest yet Blue Genes. I will definitely stick to English to avoid misunderstanding.
Your liberal view to “a little on the side” in the oval office is by all accounts a delightfully French attitude to such matters. Do you think the American voter will have believe that "she" may have similar intentions with an intern on the haloed carpets there?
Hollywood has of course prepared us all for a Black President (in 24) and a Woman President (Commander-in-Chief).
The way the vote goes in the US is of global importance of course and in our country especially. We are slightly more aware of the domestic issues in your country now, but in foreign policy we are very sensitive.
Clinton has a much better image here than Bush. Bush got some bad press over Katrina when domestic issues were raised in some depth. As to Iraq we are still amazed that no one on either side of the Atlantic has really taken the rap for the weapons of mass destruction lark. Clinton was seen also to be a genuine seeker for peace in the Israeli- Palestine conflict. The reports of a secret agenda from religious pressure groups behind the Bush Presidency are a serious concern in Europe as a whole.
As for your charming hero ex Mayor of Yew York for President or the charismatic chap with the name like Bin L, they have not yet had the exposure we need to form an opinion. No doubt we will see more of them in the future.
On a less serious note have you recovered from the eggs?
Going back to the Giants the one I was trying so hard to remember is that of Goya's Colossus
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/goya/6/608goya.html
Post a Comment