Won't get fooled again...
Over the other side of the pond they're celebrating the imminent exchange of one president for another. What can we say about G W B? That he was not quite as bad as Idi Amin? Debatable. The USA seems to be looking forward to a breath of fresh air. Here's a short bit of atypical English cycnicism.
But look on the bright side, at least Obama was elected by a majority of voters who knew (roughly) what they were voting for. We aren't quite so fortunate.
Go back a few years (and a few hops across the ocean), to when Margaret Thatcher, after two terms in office, was replaced by an ex-chancellor, un-elected by the voting public, in an attempt to recover from the mounting unpopularity that two terms of her ideas had generated. The good ship Great Britain went rudderless into the storm with her arse-end bared for all to see.
After what seemed like an eternity, a sleaze-ridden government which seemed to have completely forgotten who it was meant to be serving was replaced by a fresh new face, Tony Blair, whom we all (some of us), voted for. Oh, how we sighed with relief! Wonder-kid would save us, Britain would be great again, the damages caused by Thatcher-policies would be redressed. A brave new era was about to dawn.
And what have we got now? Not what we expected. After finally seeing (mostly with relief), a two-plus term Blair bidding farewell, we have an ex-chancellor, un-elected by the general public, taking over, with a brief to do something about the unpopularity which his party seems to have been tarred with. Oh God, Back in Lodi again.
Will history repeat itself?
Good luck, America.
Pray for our souls.
But look on the bright side, at least Obama was elected by a majority of voters who knew (roughly) what they were voting for. We aren't quite so fortunate.
Go back a few years (and a few hops across the ocean), to when Margaret Thatcher, after two terms in office, was replaced by an ex-chancellor, un-elected by the voting public, in an attempt to recover from the mounting unpopularity that two terms of her ideas had generated. The good ship Great Britain went rudderless into the storm with her arse-end bared for all to see.
After what seemed like an eternity, a sleaze-ridden government which seemed to have completely forgotten who it was meant to be serving was replaced by a fresh new face, Tony Blair, whom we all (some of us), voted for. Oh, how we sighed with relief! Wonder-kid would save us, Britain would be great again, the damages caused by Thatcher-policies would be redressed. A brave new era was about to dawn.
And what have we got now? Not what we expected. After finally seeing (mostly with relief), a two-plus term Blair bidding farewell, we have an ex-chancellor, un-elected by the general public, taking over, with a brief to do something about the unpopularity which his party seems to have been tarred with. Oh God, Back in Lodi again.
Will history repeat itself?
Good luck, America.
Pray for our souls.
Labels: Revelations, what Jay Stapley thinks of Barak Obama, what Sopwith-Camel thinks of the B-leaders.
posted by Sopwith-Camel | 10:21 am
3 Comments:
This accords with my own thinking on the US Presidential election. I was recently invited by my MP to a £35-per-head "event" to celebrate Obama coming to office. I threw it away in disgust.
Until he actually starts being President, we have no idea what sort of leader Obama will be. His speeches? Do me a favour: whenever did politicians do what they said they would do?
You don't get to that level in politics without having gone to bed with an awful lot of people (and probably a lot of awful people) who now expect payback time. Who is Obama paying and how much?
If it turns out that Obama is that rarest of rarities, an honest and wise and well-intentioned politician, I will join in the general rejoicing. Until it is clear that this is the case, however, I will reserve my judgement.
The Blair stench is still too strong in the air for me to feel inclined to do otherwise.
Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair were not elected as Prime Minister so why bleat about Major and Brown.
We Don't elect Prime Ministers we elect local MPs. Who then elect the Prim Minister.
ST, my fear is that although Obama is seen as a breath of fresh air to the USA, he is all too similar to the Tony Blair phenomenon, people are expecting miracles he wpn't or can't give.
McLeod, (Nice to see you back again, BTW), although we don't directly elect our PM, we do so indirectly, by choosing local MP's who are aligned with what is seen as the most desirable party. There is evidence that sometimes a party doesn't so much win an election as the other party loses it.
I had no gripe with Major other than he was ineffectual when the Tories started drifting. What I am pointing out is that both of them were ex-chancellors who took over mid-term from a leader who had become increasingly unpopular.
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