election

It´s election day in America, and the European press is keen with anticipation.

I´m in Spain on vacation, so I´ve been reading El Pais, the main Spanish Daily. I suppose its a waste of time to spend about an hour a day on vacation reading a newspaper, when I could read the same thing on the internet back in France, but I feel it adds to the experience.

Anyway, its pretty clear they want Obama to win. Really, really want Obama to win. The current line seems to be that Obama will usher in an era of transformational change in America. Between the lines, they´re seem to be saying "please, please transform that country". The French papers were much the same from what I remember a week and a half ago, though the intensity has increased no doubt.

An insert in El Pais this weekend had a picture of a "yes we can" obama sign and a headline, "the world is waiting for him". From the contents it could be taken as given that it also meant "we are waiting for him".

One funny article in today´s paper said that the level of votes McCain receives will provide an accurate barometer of the number of idiots in that country. A line from the article mockingly described likely McCain voters as "eager to declare war against countries they can´t find on the map."

You probably wouldn´t find that in the New York Times.

The European papers also have a frankness you don´t generally find in North America, which is nice. Another headline article in El Pais described Obama´s task as "restoring the reputation and affairs of the American empire". Which is correct. The last Emperor hasn´t done a very good job.

But again, probably not something you´d see in the New York Times, at least not put that way.

It went on to describe the number of soldiers America has (several million), and the number of military bases it has worldwide (about 700) and in how many countries (about 150).

That would certainly not be in the the New York Times.

The most annoying thing about being in Europe for this election is the time zone difference. It will be 1:00 in the morning here before any results even start to come in. Which means it won´t be in time to be in the newspapers tomorrow either.

It´s taken a bit of getting used to, its the first time I´ve been ahead six hours. The day after the bailout plan failed to pass Congress for the first time, the main newspaper in France was headlined "bailout expected to pass" and had articles with themes such as "how things will work now that the bailout has passed". The bill's failure to pass was a surprise, and it came around 3:00 pm, too late to make it in the European newspapers. So I guess I will have to get everything from the internet tomorrow.

To end this post, I will make some predictions that will look prescient if they´re right, but hopefully will be easy to forget about if they´re wrong.

Obama victory: John McCain dies of a broken heart. He's old, this is his second failed attempt at the presidency, which he has pursued with every fiber of his being for years. His carefully cultivated reputation is due to his slanderous, hate filled campaign (vote McCain, not Hussein has been a chant at his rallies of late). Losing could take away his will to live. That sort of thing isn´t unprecedented.

McCain Victory: If McCain somehow pulls off a victory today, I predict riots. By whites, too. And a civil war wouldn´t be out of the question. Which could lead to some problems, given that America has several thousand nuclear warheads. Which could end the world.

So, for that and other reasons, I hope McCain doesn´t win today.

Those are your wacky election predictions. Please ignore them if they´re wrong.