Vorliebe - Preference

The American people have finally made their choice. Whatever I write is without doubt paraphrasing whatever anyone has said or will say on the US election for the last and next 24 hours, but it’s such a monumental and important event, it was going always going to be shoehorned into today’s improvised piece. I spent last night around a friend’s house with several other US politics junkies watching the coverage intently. It’s funny how something so inherently dull as tallying the various marks made on slips of paper can create such a nail-biting six hours of television. Although I suppose the sheer magnitude of the result and its ramifications probably contributed at least a little. Still, so many people have been utterly apathetic to the whole thing. Given, I wouldn’t expect everyone to show as much interest as me, but those who’d use the line “It’s America, I don’t give a shit, why do you care so much?!” are being ridiculously naïve. Like it or not, the USA is the world’s biggest economy and has not the largest, but certainly the most powerful military, making any fiscal or foreign policy decision very relevant to all citizens across the globe. So, America’s preference of Barak Obama over John McCain is massively important, given their clear difference in policy regarding the financial crisis and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ll actually stop right here before this gets far too weighty for something that’s supposed to be vaguely humorous, so I’ll lighten things up by mentioning my TV highlight of the evening: David Dimbleby Vs Gore Vidal. The BBC’s coverage is always excellent, and it can be counted on for at least one instance of hilarity during a live results show. Essentially Vidal sounded like a complete nutter who’d forgotten to take his pills that morning, having zero patience for Dimblebly’s questions or follow-ups, and ultimately shitting on him and his career by stating he had no idea who he was. A close second to their exchange was a drunken Nick Robinson, the political editor for BBC news, who was outside Downing Street at 3am all goosed up after a party at the US embassy, slurring his words and swaying ever so slightly.
As for the results, I’ll be beaming for weeks to come. I’m sure the world is a happier place today and while a great future is by no means guaranteed, it’s at least far, far more likely now the Elephant is dead. Although it must be said, all credit to McCain, whose concession speech was surprising eloquent, respectful and humbling. But then I guess he had a long time to work on it.