Twice this year we have seen Labour leaders turn around perceptions of them and their party with one speech; Ed Miliband at the UK Party conference in November and Julia Gillard in the Australian parliament in October. I think that calling for David Shearer’s head in the week before the Labour party conference is a sign of panic.
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show on the 7th – the day after the American elections – is a classic. Stewart is having more fun than is seemly or decent!
Rabid Republican partisan Bill O’Reilly lamented the demise of “the white establishment” on Fox News. Take away the bitterness, prejudice, and racism, and O’Reilly is correct about some of the facts. Obama was elected by “minorities”, as predicted the Latino vote was particularly significant. Will an all white ticket win the presidential election ever again?
While the professional mainstream media were all chanting in unison that the American presidential election was “too close to call”, one (famous!) blogger correctly predicted the result – for every state.
Donald Trump says it’s not democracy, but that is essentially the story of the US election campaign. In the end, Democrat on-the-ground organisation beat Republican billion-dollar PACs. Obama’s background as a community organiser was crucial, while the Republican money came from the old economy. A good win, and much food for thought for us.
Fran O’Sullivan must be shaking her head in confusion – her endorsement of Mitt Romney failed to get him over the line. Maybe she’ll find succor in these referenda results: 5 out of 5 states voted in favour of legalising marijuana. 4 out of 4 voted in favour of marriage equality. California has watered down its 3 strikes law. And Florida voted against banning public funds for abortion.
Obama wins.
Stuck in a hotel room in the US, with cable TV, fast internet and not a lot else – I’ll keep you up to date with what’s happening. It’s been an incredibly negative campaign – $2.5 billion spent on the presidential race at last count, mostly on deriding the other guy. Still, the Oracle, Nate Silver has Obama at 91% odds to win. I’ll try and keep an eye on all the close races – because who controls the Senate and the House matter very much too.
Voting starts. What will the new president do about Climate Change? For good or ill, America has a tradition of global leadership. When it comes to climate change America needs to lead more actively in the world – not from behind, but from the front. Will Obama be that president? Will Romney? Or will we have to wait another four more terrible years of rudderless inaction?
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. This week: inequality, language on social media, and feminism.
Yet another thing the PM is “not responsible” for – add it to the long list. This time it is his “oversight” of the SAS. Or is Key seeking his Obama “gotcha” moment, and a political bounce from it?
If any good can ever be said to come from a natural disaster, then let the good of Sandy be its function as a clear and present wake up call. It’s a crisis, and it’s an opportunity.
The US Presidential election is close. Really close. The political futures markets favour Obama about 2 to 1 but polls of the nationwide popular vote and the polls in key states, such as Ohio and Virginia, are essentially tied. Enter the October surprise – Sandy, the latest ever recorded Atlantic storm, now coming ashore and pounding key battleground states.
Gillard’s ‘Asian Century’ white paper, and negotiations of the ASEAN trade agreement (RCEP) are significant developments in US-China struggle for dominance in the region. Aussie wants to be a major player. How should NZ respond?
The third and final debate kicks off in about 2 hours. As always, check out The Guardian live blog.
Labour Day celebrates, what was at the time, a cutting edge victory for working people – the 8 hour working day. But the struggles continue for men and women. Now is not the time to be going backwards on issues that impact on workers, people struggling on low incomes, or beneficiaries. Updated.
Against (almost) all precedent, the presidential debates seem to matter this time round. Obama v Romney, the second debate, is in progress. Check out live coverage at The Guardian.
Should have reposted this last week – NRT on a bizarre and scary US legal opinion. Thoughtcrime will be next…
Judith Collins is going to the US and isn’t going to raise the Dotcom case we are told. I’ll bet the US Justice Department is though. They knew for a year Dotcom was going to be arrested on his birthday.
This week I’ve been to see the surrealists at the Tate Modern in London, and read about the surrealists at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. God knows what Cameron was talking about, with his line about spreading privilege – Knighthoods for all? Everybody off to Eton and Oxbridge?
Did you see the Jon Stewart vs. Bill O’Reilly mock presidential debate – “The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium”? Is it too late to get Stewart on the ticket for November?
It really was a pleasure last night watching the most obnoxious weasel in aussie politics, Tony Abbott, getting done over by a fired up Julia Gillard. She was pointing out that his sudden calls against sexism and misogyny could be better applied to himself. Then she spent glorious minutes detailing exactly why Tony Abbott was the last politician in Austrailia who could throw dirt using these charges.
In another slippery John Key u-turn, after his mission to Hollywood ‘sweeteners’ are now on the table. Key is bending over to let US-based conglomerates extend their dominance in NZ, in support of their own interests and values.
As Key heads off to the US to promote the NZ film industry, I look back at the Hobbit union-busting case and the issues it raised. Will Key’s latest mission to Hollywood, boost the economy, increase jobs and provide benefits to the NZ film industry? Or will it actually undermine the NZ’s economy and democracy, further Americanising NZ’s culture along with it?
“TPP Watch” has a shiny new web site, with great resource and events coming up. Check it out.
I’ll be in Manchester tomorrow to hear Ed Miliband speak at the UK Labour Party conference. Labour are ahead in the polls, and Miliband’s leadership is more secure than Cameron’s or Clegg’s. Ed Miliband has surprised those who thought Labour chose the wrong brother. Ed is receiving plenty of free advice about what he should say; I suspect he will continue to be himself. Interesting parallels to New Zealand; I’m looking forward to it.
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. This week: Obama the Tory, fish, Planet Key and the UK’s hit political single.
Brilliant call for arms for apathetic Democrat supporters.
Starring a foul-mouthed Samuel L Jackson.
The UK and USA make for interesting case studies in their differing responses to the global recession. A pity that NZ followed the wrong leader.
There’s a lot of it about in right-wing parties at the moment. For John Key, John Banks and David Cameron it appears to be becoming the strategy of choice. It’s not working very well for any of them.
Encouraging polls in both NZ and America.
When parties that claim to have a social conscience end up propping up right-wing governments it doesn’t usually end well. Here is the Lib Dems leader Nick Clegg, apologising to his supporters for breaking a core promise. He has been subtitled for honesty.
John Key is one kind of Wizard all right – a Wizard of Oz. He can make people disappear there. Duncan Garner rips in to him.
No Right Turn on the waste and divisiveness of charter schools in the UK.
Mitt Romney just blew it.
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. This week: torture, charter schools, economics and development.
Talk fast, shoot the messenger, and spin like a top. That’s Joyce’s style, trying to defend the indefensible; National’s neglect of New Zealand’s manufacturing industry.
