Most of the world, with the notable exception of the miscalculating political leadership in Israel, is breathing a great sigh of relief that Barack Obama has prevailed over Mitt Romney. The vote for Romney was a negative vote, an anti-Obama vote. Of those voting for Romney many were not voting for the man, since it […]
Mitt Romney
Posted inGeneral
Framing Romney’s big-money politics
In the October 1 2012 edition of TIME magazine, James Poniewozik wrote an incisive piece of journalism on the imminent US presidential election – more precisely on Mitt Romney’s aspirations and the occasion of his gaffe about “the 47%” although Poniewozik concentrates on a different, to my mind, more telling aspect of the donor banquet […]
Posted inNews/Politics
SA should test presidential wannabes in live debate
The United States presidential debates – dating from 1960 and drawing about 60 million television viewers – are a sober affair, quite unlike the song-and-dance cabaret that President Jacob Zuma locally relies on to lure voters. This week saw first of three debates between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Though the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Race underlies this race
Sometimes it’s shockingly explicit, sometimes it’s subtle, but it’s always present: There’s an undeniable racial undertone to this year’s US presidential contest between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. Part of it is structural: Most Americans are no longer white. This year, for the first time, Latinos, African-Americans, Asians, and Native Americans together outnumber […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Obama: Rip those conservatives apart
Four years ago, Barack Obama and his rival, John McCain, both embodied the American idea of nobility in their respective campaigns. This time Obama enjoys the power of incumbency, and he will fight on his record. While all political figures become repositories of hope by virtue of taking office, Obama had built his entire campaign […]