Print ArticleHillary Clinton may not have made it this time but she is still 1 million miles better than Sarah Palin.
That just goes to show the strength in depth of the Democratic Party this time. As a Brit without a vote and 65 years old I have always taken an interest in the politics of my country. Those politics have been the biggest disappointment since coming here to live right after 9/11. I have not been slow to state my concerns and have had stiff opposition at times as result. I understand all about patriotism. I have always been a staunch patriot of my homeland and especially when I was looking at her from my station in Germany in the sixties in NATO Headquarters Rheindalen and in Berlin. Patriots still must speak out.
I believe however in straight talk just like McCain and I applaud him here and now for a great speech and great objectives. Why though has he not achieved any of them whilst being in a position to for all these many years? If there were not a choice of Obama and Biden and Clinton on the table then McCain and Palin would still be a wonderful ticket to replace the government of the last eight years of my immigration.
Britain have the best way of dealing with this I have to say as Blair was easy to replace when he overstepped the mark in poodleness as we choose a ´party´ to lead and ´they´ choose their leader. When the populace made it clear they disliked the policies of their choice it was not that difficult to ´replace´ him. Having said that he was enormously popular once and it might have been that same popularity that usurped him. Brown may not last long in his shadow. It might be time for change there also.
Back to here and about the Democrats. I feel that they ARE the party to choose. They have the fresh ideas and they have not been able to implement them up till now in the senate and house. As much as Palin is a breath of fresh air she also is a foot in the past. Still not wanting ´woman´s choice´ and accepting ´gays´ right to be at their partners bedside in their last moments and to be secure as any ´straight´ partner might be?
Democrats are the ´humility´ party. Republicans only have Mcain holding that banner. I am mighty impressed with his words in his speech. What worries me is having a Guiliani and a Romney on that same team. People who still want just to bang the drum in the light of the last eight years need to evaluate. Even McCain is a bit too ´militaristic´ still to be trusted. You know that in Britain Churchill was put out to grass after the war. You can get sick of the ´drumbeat´. Maggie Thatcher also was put out to grass after the ´Falklands´ and a more diplomatic John Major chosen who did well with the IRA problem.
Some people have to endure what John did in Hanoi to reach the heights of balance between power and reason. Others like Obama just ooze it from birth. Some people are good at stepping out of their own shoes as is Cindy McCain and into someone else´s. I have been able to do that all my life and once stood up for a terrorized fellow African boy soldier called ´Rudolph´ when a rabid Scot wanted to pick on him. I talked him down. A hundred other ´squaddies´ pretended to be asleep.
I am an activist and I did not know it. It took standing on a beach in Pensacola with 100,000 Americans watching the Blue Angels and wondering why I was the only one not swooning. Yes I enjoyed the spectacle but I could not see anyone who might wonder as did I what it might be like as an unsuspecting Iraqi living in a dustbowl existence after ten years of sanctions to hear that jet screaming overhead. As a child I endured it in London but I had the wonderful RAF and the defense ground team and the early warning system and the bomb shelter in the back yard and the subway system to retire to. The sound meant to terrorize was the V1 bomber that ran out of fuel overhead and was designed to ´scream´ as it turned downwards to rain carnage on the heads of Londoners.
Is it only people who endure that who are reticent to war and is that why I hear nothing but ´drumbeats´ at the Republican Convention and at Memorial Day etc. Am I ever going to be able to enjoy ´any´ event that does NOT include ´militarism´? We have a somber ceremony in Whitehall in November with all dressed in black. We do not party. What other nation has an annual event that involves the legless and mentally affected being displayed? Count them? It is time for the ´drumbeat´ of the right to stop?
I look forward to a time when the Democrats get a turn. It is not healthy for one party to continue leading indefinitely and it is not healthy for talk radio to preach hatred and fear that the alternative is ´death and destruction´. Stop the biased and hateful platform. Stop preaching anywhere that a pro-choice, pro gay, anti torture alternative is something to put a gun to your head over. Stop preaching that Democrats are not ´patriotic´ and stop wanting to ´nuke´ the world. You are in denial that the world looks on in worry. Any other nation that views a militaristic non-diplomatic tense and fearful outlook would be concerned. Who apart from America sees the future as being so complex?
Obama and his excellent team and the rest of the moderates will be a breath of fresh air to the world and the economy will be redistributed and waste stopped. Great diplomacy will be something that America is known for once again and the ´fire from the hip´ mentality can be rested. Don´t kid yourself that the war is won in Iraq. The allowing of a time for ´change´ is what is slowing down insurgency. But more of the same will result in another upsurge if ´occupation´ is decided to be the ´right of passage´. Only when this sovereign nation is respectfully allowed to return to self rule will we finally know what it will lead to. Only more American body bags will accompany heavy-handed occupation. No nation will be occupied eternally without blood loss and the cause is not worth the losses.
Finally and in respect of my article title. I would sooner have Hillary Clinton in charge of decisions of national importance than Sarah Palin any day. She has no experience and is making all the wrong decisions in her private life. From her own schooling, to her parenting, to her policies, to her character. She does a good job of ´selling herself´ and the ´journalism´ degree will have helped but the White House is no Wasilla Town Hall. This would be like Gordon Brown picking a remote Member of Parliament from the Isle of Skye to be deputy Prime Minister. Thankfully that does not happen. As stated the party choose the leader and the leader can be changed. No one like Palin would be acceptable.
That just goes to show the strength in depth of the Democratic Party this time. As a Brit without a vote and 65 years old I have always taken an interest in the politics of my country. Those politics have been the biggest disappointment since coming here to live right after 9/11. I have not been slow to state my concerns and have had stiff opposition at times as result. I understand all about patriotism. I have always been a staunch patriot of my homeland and especially when I was looking at her from my station in Germany in the sixties in NATO Headquarters Rheindalen and in Berlin. Patriots still must speak out.
I believe however in straight talk just like McCain and I applaud him here and now for a great speech and great objectives. Why though has he not achieved any of them whilst being in a position to for all these many years? If there were not a choice of Obama and Biden and Clinton on the table then McCain and Palin would still be a wonderful ticket to replace the government of the last eight years of my immigration.
Britain have the best way of dealing with this I have to say as Blair was easy to replace when he overstepped the mark in poodleness as we choose a ´party´ to lead and ´they´ choose their leader. When the populace made it clear they disliked the policies of their choice it was not that difficult to ´replace´ him. Having said that he was enormously popular once and it might have been that same popularity that usurped him. Brown may not last long in his shadow. It might be time for change there also.
Back to here and about the Democrats. I feel that they ARE the party to choose. They have the fresh ideas and they have not been able to implement them up till now in the senate and house. As much as Palin is a breath of fresh air she also is a foot in the past. Still not wanting ´woman´s choice´ and accepting ´gays´ right to be at their partners bedside in their last moments and to be secure as any ´straight´ partner might be?
Democrats are the ´humility´ party. Republicans only have Mcain holding that banner. I am mighty impressed with his words in his speech. What worries me is having a Guiliani and a Romney on that same team. People who still want just to bang the drum in the light of the last eight years need to evaluate. Even McCain is a bit too ´militaristic´ still to be trusted. You know that in Britain Churchill was put out to grass after the war. You can get sick of the ´drumbeat´. Maggie Thatcher also was put out to grass after the ´Falklands´ and a more diplomatic John Major chosen who did well with the IRA problem.
Some people have to endure what John did in Hanoi to reach the heights of balance between power and reason. Others like Obama just ooze it from birth. Some people are good at stepping out of their own shoes as is Cindy McCain and into someone else´s. I have been able to do that all my life and once stood up for a terrorized fellow African boy soldier called ´Rudolph´ when a rabid Scot wanted to pick on him. I talked him down. A hundred other ´squaddies´ pretended to be asleep.
I am an activist and I did not know it. It took standing on a beach in Pensacola with 100,000 Americans watching the Blue Angels and wondering why I was the only one not swooning. Yes I enjoyed the spectacle but I could not see anyone who might wonder as did I what it might be like as an unsuspecting Iraqi living in a dustbowl existence after ten years of sanctions to hear that jet screaming overhead. As a child I endured it in London but I had the wonderful RAF and the defense ground team and the early warning system and the bomb shelter in the back yard and the subway system to retire to. The sound meant to terrorize was the V1 bomber that ran out of fuel overhead and was designed to ´scream´ as it turned downwards to rain carnage on the heads of Londoners.
Is it only people who endure that who are reticent to war and is that why I hear nothing but ´drumbeats´ at the Republican Convention and at Memorial Day etc. Am I ever going to be able to enjoy ´any´ event that does NOT include ´militarism´? We have a somber ceremony in Whitehall in November with all dressed in black. We do not party. What other nation has an annual event that involves the legless and mentally affected being displayed? Count them? It is time for the ´drumbeat´ of the right to stop?
I look forward to a time when the Democrats get a turn. It is not healthy for one party to continue leading indefinitely and it is not healthy for talk radio to preach hatred and fear that the alternative is ´death and destruction´. Stop the biased and hateful platform. Stop preaching anywhere that a pro-choice, pro gay, anti torture alternative is something to put a gun to your head over. Stop preaching that Democrats are not ´patriotic´ and stop wanting to ´nuke´ the world. You are in denial that the world looks on in worry. Any other nation that views a militaristic non-diplomatic tense and fearful outlook would be concerned. Who apart from America sees the future as being so complex?
Obama and his excellent team and the rest of the moderates will be a breath of fresh air to the world and the economy will be redistributed and waste stopped. Great diplomacy will be something that America is known for once again and the ´fire from the hip´ mentality can be rested. Don´t kid yourself that the war is won in Iraq. The allowing of a time for ´change´ is what is slowing down insurgency. But more of the same will result in another upsurge if ´occupation´ is decided to be the ´right of passage´. Only when this sovereign nation is respectfully allowed to return to self rule will we finally know what it will lead to. Only more American body bags will accompany heavy-handed occupation. No nation will be occupied eternally without blood loss and the cause is not worth the losses.
Finally and in respect of my article title. I would sooner have Hillary Clinton in charge of decisions of national importance than Sarah Palin any day. She has no experience and is making all the wrong decisions in her private life. From her own schooling, to her parenting, to her policies, to her character. She does a good job of ´selling herself´ and the ´journalism´ degree will have helped but the White House is no Wasilla Town Hall. This would be like Gordon Brown picking a remote Member of Parliament from the Isle of Skye to be deputy Prime Minister. Thankfully that does not happen. As stated the party choose the leader and the leader can be changed. No one like Palin would be acceptable.
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