Obama's domestic foreign trip
I have found an Internet connection! It is here at this which has graciously granted me access to the outside world (despite us not staying) and which has - aptly given the conversation since my last posting - statues of Churchill and Roosevelt in the garden.
As I prepare to re-enter the world of the US election I am seized with the fear that the whole thing has gone terribly flat. Hillary versus Barack had a Shakespearian quality that Barack against that other older fellow just does not have. My fear was confirmed by last week - by far the best thing I have seen on this British trip.
I do hope she's wrong. And it is not McCain's fault - in fact the blame is really to be laid at the feet of his opponent. The sudden "ordinariness" of Barack Obama seems to many Brits to have been confirmed by the journey on which he is now embarked, during which he appears to be speaking only to Americans in a manner that is, well, very American and somewhat imperious if not Imperial. As the London Times put it:
"Should any of his hosts be under the illusion that the trip is not primarily a White House campaign event, Mr Obama, 46, is taking no foreign journalists. Instead, he has filled his campaign plane with US reporters, including three television news anchors, who are in discussions to hold prime-time interviews with him on consecutive nights."
I have written before about the brilliance and sure-footedness of the Obama team and as usual I suspect that they know exactly what they are doing in avoiding messy encounters with suspect foreigners. But is this change that foreigners can believe in? Should this not really be delivered by the man himself? Perhaps it is a matter of timing - of doing the job that needs to be done at home before turning to the outside world - but I do hope, and I think it is reasonable for the outside world to hope, that both candidates have some proper encounters with foreign journalists before November. And of course the best way to do that - to be heard in Afghanistan and the UK and indeed back in the US - is to talk to the Ö÷²¥´óÐã!
They know my number in the Isle of Wight - though I do hope they haven't been emailing...
Hello, I'm 
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