Howdy from Oklahoma! 

Sebastian Herrmann and Catarina Rost have asked me to blog about the ongoing presidential race. I’m beginning by an (overly long, I’m afraid) post on the just-completed conventions as we enter the home stretch of this long campaign.

Unterschiedlicher hätten die beiden Wahlparteitage kaum sein können. Nicht nur die Größe, sondern auch die Atmosphäre war eine ganz andere. Es war offensichtlich, dass die Demokraten in diesem Wahljahr mehr Energie generieren können als die Republikaner. Historisch waren jedoch beide Nominierungsparteitage: Zum ersten Mal wurde ein Afro-Amerikaner zum Präsidentschaftskandidat einer großen Partei gewählt und zum ersten Mal wurde eine Frau zur Vizepräsidentschaftskandidatin der Republikaner gekürt.

Expecting this years presidential election campaign to be free of racial stereotypes would be like believing that we can solve the conflict between Israel and Palestine by meeting up for a week-long peace summit.

Just a few days ago, Congressman Westmoreland (R-GA) referred to the Obamas using the term “uppity.”  He said: 

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity.”

Frage:

Can McCain do it? Can he outperform Palin? He certainly has to, if he doesn’t want the news media and the comedians to tear him apart.

On Monday, the news broke that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. The story caused a intense debate about McCain’s judgment and the issue of teen pregnancy in the US. A prominent question has been whether it is even okay to talk about Palin’s daughter, since it is a private issue. Sure, it’s dicey, but isn’t it relevant considering Palin’s pro-life stance?

Sitting in the press stands during the speeches last night was very intense. A lot of  hostility towards the media was expressed in the speeches. I felt the negative vibe and wondered if some people would like to throw things at us. Seriously! People in the audience were pointing at the writing press in disgust when the speakers mentioned the “liberal” bias of the media and then they started booing.

Today, the Republican National Convention started in St. Paul/Minneapolis. The official program was shortened due to the potentially dangerous storm Gustav. The happenings on the floor in Xcel Center took place for only about 3 hours. President Bush, who was supposed to headline the evening stayed in Washington to deal with Gustav. One delegate told me that that is the best thing that could have happened. Having Bush in St. Paul, he argued, would have only given Obama more ammunition against McCain.

Die Nachprüfung SHP I findet am 26. September 2008 von 11-13 Uhr im Raum 2 5.16 statt.

McCain’s VP pick again underscores how hard the Democrats will have to work over the next 143 days to reunite their party with upset Clinton supporters. At the same time, Obama’s acceptance speech, watched by 38 million Americans (!), showed how many people he can inspire. Still, a large portion of Americans are very skeptical of him and his background.