an american president

i've been a staunch defender of obama in the last few months. mainly, my basis has been on the fact that he's a democrat and so was josiah bartlett (the greatest president ever). the west wing TV series has a big influence on my knowledge of the american political system, i make no apologies as it was well informed, deeply researched and filled with advocated devil arguments.

i'm rewatching the entire of west wing again as my girlfriend hasn't seen it before, so i won't go into any detail... but writer Aaron Sorkin based jimmy smits' character on barack obama way back in 2001 so if that's not a sign of intelligent writing i don't know what is.


anyway, i watched the presidential debate a couple of days ago. i felt as a member of the human race who is vastly affected by the choice of american president in the self-dubbed "greatest nation on earth;" that i should at least watch the two most likely candidates cat-fight it out for an hour or so.

the results were pretty disappointing.

i viewed the debate with as little bias as possible, giving mccain the benefit of any republican-based doubts. i was well aware that obama isn't actually matt santos but a human being without a preordained, scripted life story. i was fully prepared for the blind patriotism that you always get whenever american's talk about anything, absolutely anything. they both had a fair shot. they both missed.

i liked them both, as people. but i am in no way excited about either of them becoming the "leader of the free world" - (that title always makes me laugh and shake my head.) i'm not naive, i know that they would have both had endless sessions with their political advisors and script writers and strategists and sam seabournes and josh lymans and bruno gianellis, and they would have been given key words to repeat over and over. john mccain's most obvious were 'economy' and referring to the audience as his 'friends.' although its amazing how little i managed to understand what mccain was talking about half the time. more often than not, his answers were a rambling mash of tangents and bewilderment, usually followed by some slightly inaccurate questioning of obama's political record.

i remained unconvinced.

i hoped to be more enthralled by barack. his commanding presence during his speeches and his focus on middle-class issues have warmed me up 'til now. i get a good vibe from him. he is young and energetic and a step forward for america. but he does lack experience, and it shows, particularly in matters to do with military presence around the world. hopefully he will be able to fill in the gaps very quickly between now and when it might be important.

watching this debate brought me - begrudgingly - back home to british politics. firstly, wondering about the possibilities of creating this united states style celebrity atmosphere around our top politicians. my theory is the following: politicians would have to work harder. this can only be better in terms of policy, behaviour and personality.

secondly, we really don't have any worthy choices to lead our country. we are faced with the three most likely
gordon brown - useless, bumbling idiot with no personality who is yet to actually be elected into his position; and appears to have propelled our country into economical disaster.
david cameron - whiny posh-boy who seems to think that politics is only about belittling the opposition and not about making the country better.
nick clegg - wha'... who? oh, him. well he can promise anything can't he, because he'll never be in power and won't have to hold true on any of them.

so it's slowly becoming evident that the world has no good candidates.
great britain? no.
USA? no.
russia? holy shit no.
china? oh lord.
africa?..... i'll get back to you.
korea, cuba, iraq, south america, afghanistan, canary wharf?.... oh dear.

"vote Obama!
in the absence of Jed Bartlett, he's the best we've got."

watch the entire debate if you like: