The Daily Clarity

Why the world doesn’t understand – US elections, the Palin syndrome and Joe the plumber

Many international newspapers and internet sites are running a parallel election poll to choose the next US President but in the virtual world of the Internet, the result is already in. While the results won’t put anyone in the White House, the votes and the commentary are fascinating. It is not a vote but it is a powerful poll as to world opinion. Why is there such global fascination with the US election? It is a question with two answers. One is simplistic. The US is a global powerhouse. It’s economy, military power and social (if not cultural) influence is unparalleled. The other factor is less often vocalized but is equally important. It appears the world is hoping for an American Renaissance – a recapturing of what made America great and what many think has been lost during the Bush wilderness years. This concept is not unknown in many places in the world. Many countries have had their time in the spotlight – Greek, Italy, Britain, the Arab nations. There is a sort of comfort and nostalgia in imagining a people finding its way after being lost. Many in the world feel that the US needs to come back to its glory. The difference from a global perspective is on how or if that will be achieved.

If you look at every international poll, they unanimously select Obama as the preferred choice for US President. These selections are not generally based on policy analysis according to the commentaries. They are based on an identification with the concept of hope. Change is a powerful message. It sells just as strongly as sex to quote the old advertising industry line. There is a feeling that the US has lost its way – the exuberance, energy and sheer can-do mentality of the America the world admired has been lost in the Bush years. The world is exhausted with war, economic challenge and the lack of dialog. Dogma has taken charge and this is a force that the world has constantly fought. International commentators are bemused that the choice is not as clear cut in the US and that is the nexus of the issue. The US starts from a different paradigm and its introspection uses a totally different language. We are dealing not with differing ideologies but about a different though process. That is why the world is struggling to understand.

Firstly, you need to understand that this US election is a transitional election. It is generational. Young America is outward facing, has a world view and is a concerned world citizen. Young America cannot be defined as an age issue though that is part of it. There is a new force (young, old and in-between) that does understand the America’s crucial role in the world. We are facing an election between a 40 something and a 70 something. It should come as no surprise that their world view, based on their life experience and cultural norm is a world apart. This is not an issue that has been covered to any great extent by the US media. The pollsters talk in terms of a different electoral map than they have ever seen before. It is like they want to keep using the same paradigm when the election choices are so different than they have been before.

This is not an election based on race (though that will influence it), it not one that will be decided by policy dogma (though some will choose that way) but rather one that will decide what the future direction of the US will be. The reason the international polls are so different to US domestic polls is that the world has already made that choice. It wants the new America which is in essence, ironically, closer to the America of yore than they think.

The world doesn’t understand why Palin is a candidate for high office. Her views on abortion, global warming, unilateral national interest and fundamentalism are disturbing to much of the developed world. She engenders a visceral reaction from both sides of the political spectrum. To the fundamentalists, to the party faithful and to the American’s confused by the brave new world – she is their kind of people. To the rest of the US (and to many parts of the world) she personifies what has gone wrong in America. An adherence to moral scripture, a disbelief in the scientific reality and an unwavering belief in what was is as it should be. Many criticisms of her are unfair. She is an intellectual lightweight (possibly but not proven), she is inexperienced (probably but not less than other contenders), she is a zealot (yes she is for good or for bad) and she is the worst possible woman to break through the glass ceiling. Many women (and this is now Republican mantra) discount her on the basis of her pro-life beliefs as if that is a requirement for office. She is a serious contender for office in 2012 and she does have Republican party traction. The response to her is more unconscious. She scares many people because of her lack of self-doubt. She does not question. She is convinced she is right and everyone else is wrong. She is a nationalist above all. That is her appeal to one side and the cause of hate on the other. We question anyone who is so absolutely sure of their way.

The world does not understand why Joe the plumber resonates. This particularly as factually this person would be better off under Obama’s policies. Again, it is a throwback, an echo of the world as it was. A restatement of the American dream. By hard work, pluck and gumption it is available to anyone; no matter how humble. The fact that Joe the plumber is now on the Republican road show around the country, is being cited by the press on his views as to how a vote for Obama signifies death for Israel is testament to the “dream”. He is living it, considering a run for Congress in 2012. The dream come true.

The reason that the world doesn’t understand America is that they follow a different logic. The reason the campaign is so aggressive is an indication of that. The incursion into Syria this week stunned the world. It is not so here. It is that the US’s interests in and of itself are so strong that the wishes of another sovereign nation are secondary to that objective. The same evidence can be seen in Pakistan and Iraq. What is best for America is best for all regardless of consequence. It is both the beauty and the horror of the US today. The choice the US has to make is, as the world sees it, a choice between Renaissance and the Dark Ages. That is not the way the US electorate see it. The campaign has been polarizing. Accusations at a stretch of socialism (a sin) are equated with communism (abhorrent). Fiscal responsibility through tax reform (bad) rather than increasing debt financed by China and Saudi Arabia (that’s ok). It is a unique dialog that shapes the US election and one that the world, even though they may speak the same language, will never understand.