I bet the Iraqi's do as well!
The saturation of the media we are experiencing in Australia surrounding politics at the moment is nothing short of astounding. We have a federal election on October 9th, Indonesia had their election today, and of course, who could forget about the battle to end all battles, George Bush vs John Kerry in the United States of America presidential race to be decided in November.
I will vote in the October 9th election in Australia, and my decision has been made, I will be voting for the coalition – hopefully keeping John Howard and the Liberals in power. The Indonesian presidential contest has been decided with President Megawati Soekarnoputri being ousted by an ex General who quite possibly has the funniest middle name in Politics –Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the countries 6th president.
From all opinion polls thus far, George Bush seems to be winning the race in America, and this is the news that discomforts me the most. George Bush does his job well enough – he is looking out for the interests of Americans – when those interests involve pre-emptive strikes and second rate international diplomacy, he isn’t looking out for the interests of the world, and this is why John Kerry gets my ‘vote’
As an International citizen, I hear US citizens remark – “who cares who we vote for, it’s our choice, so stay out of it!” to which I quip – “no shit you morons, practice what you preach” The simple fact of the matter is that as the worlds one and only superpower, the whole world is affected by the policies of the US government, whether it is adverse or positive, we have to place our faith in the US voting public… my faith is dwindling.
China recently had a major cabinet reshuffle, with moderate’s assuming roles of power to ensure China has a softer image in the region – China is certainly a world power, but the commentary on their government is at a minimum, simply because the domino effect of interventionalist policies are not on display and do not create such a topical issue for the worlds population.
John Kerry is well aware of the United States international perception, he is well aware there is a whole world of 5.7billion outside of the US’s shores, and whilst he has no responsibility to cater to those people, he has the depth of insight to realise that it is within America’s best interests to tone down their foreign policies, and maybe work a little with other nations who ultimately, have the same goal.
Just because Senator Kerry does not have the Jacksonian attitude American’s are so fond of, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the best interests for the USA at heart – I sincerely believe John Kerry is the best thing for Americans – sure, cleaning up the mess from George W. will be a long and arduous task no matter who hold’s office now or in 4 years time, there is a mess there, and as long as George W. fails to acknowledge that it is a mess, rather than a ‘victory’ he is only detrimental to the long term security of the USA.
There is still some time to go for John Kerry and the Democrats to turn this election campaign around; I do know that if it were an international election, he would have won hands down though, it doesn’t count for much at the moment, but maybe it should.
BAM!!!