Is it my imagination, or is it becoming more and more common for leaders and public figures to endorse American election candidates?
It seems that the preference is always for the Democrat candidate — if any foreign leaders favor McCain, they are keeping quiet.
Now we have opinion polling in foreign countries on local support for the American presidential candidates. And these polls aren’t only being done in relatively civilized places like Sweden or France, but also in various backwater outposts of the Third World.
AKI has the report:
Democratic candidates gain support abroad
US presidential candidate Barack Obama has generated broad support in Afghanistan, while Somalis would prefer to work with his Democratic rival Senator Hillary Clinton.
These are the findings of a survey conducted by the international think-tank, The Senlis Council, in Afghanistan and Somalia in March and April.
According to the think-tank, the results of this year’s US presidential elections are “critical to both countries,” as they are both “strongly affected by US policy”.
When asked which of the presidential candidates they would back, 69 percent of those questioned in Afghanistan favoured Obama, while 26 percent were in favour of Clinton.
In Somalia, 47 percent of civilians surveyed supported Clinton, while 44 percent backed Obama.
“What we are seeing is that Afghans have overwhelming support of Senator Obama because they are attracted by his promises to bring peace and end the war in Iraq,” said Norine MacDonald, president and lead field researcher of council.
“Most interestingly, we found unified support for Senator Clinton amongst Somalis associated with the Islamic courts, and the extremist parts of the community. According to their perceptions of Senator Clinton’s character and experience, she is best suited as a partner to build peace with Muslims.”
So Hillary is the Shariah candidate, eh? Eat your heart out, B. Hussein!
But, given his madrassa education, why wouldn’t BHO be better for Somalia?
- - - - - - - - -
Somalis said that Obama would avoid engaging in Islamic issues because he would be vulnerable to allegations of being overly sympathetic to a Muslim viewpoint, given his family’s Islamic background.
Obama is the son of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas, who met and married in Hawaii. Divorced when Obama was a child, his mother then married an Indonesian man and the family moved to Jakarta for four years.
Although his father and step-father were Muslim, Obama is a practising Christian and attended secular and Catholic schools.
No mention of the madrassa. And also no mention of Barack Hussein Obama’s pitch-perfect mimicry of a yodeling muezzin.
“Obama will not be able to deliver a positive working relationship with the Muslim people. The US people are very suspicious of his Muslim background and if they see him in a room with Muslim leaders they will not trust him to represents US interests,” said one of the respondents in Mogadishu.
The strongest support for Obama in the Somali community came from those most closely associated with the Somali government.
John McCain does merit a mention. Unfortunately, however, the senator can’t expect many votes from precincts in Mazar-e-Sharif and Baidoa:
In Afghanistan and Somalia, there was little support for the likely Republican nominee John McCain.
In both countries, support for Senator McCain was very low, with just 5 percent of respondents in Afghanistan and 9 percent in Somalia opting for the Republican nominee.
“McCain is no different to Bush at all. We would be very concerned if McCain was elected,” said a businessman from Mogadishu.
“The whole world is looking to the US to bring back the dignity and morality of the US.”
Ah, yes: dignity and morality. It will be 1999 all over again!
And what is the Senlis Council?
The Senlis Council is an international policy think tank with offices in Kabul, London, Ottawa, Rio de Janeiro, Brussels and Paris.
Of course — Brussels! I should have known.
I don’t think Sen. McCain will get many votes in Paris or London, either.
Hat tip: C. Cantoni
11 comments:
I am certain that having the support of two countries, both of which lack viable governments, will make the Democrat candidate, who ever he/she is, very happy. Put another way: if they're against McCain, that's reason enough for me to support him.
It's disappointing, Baron, to see the casual joking (I Hope) smears and innuendoes riddling this post.
Start with an old one "Democrat" instead of "Democratic." That's an old, pathetic, part of the Republic party operative manual.
Then, of course, the Barack HUSSEIN Obama angle, new, but also pathetically trite.
As for the "madrassa" angle, I would refer you to the source for such internet-based smears, http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp. The Muslim school Obama attended for part of the time he was a child was not a Madrassa. According to the free dictionary online, a madrassa is defined as A building or group of buildings used for teaching Islamic theology and religious law, typically including a mosque. Websters online dictionary has a more broad definition, a Muslim school, college, or university that is often part of a mosque. So, of course Baron, you will now crow that you are technically correct to say that Barack Obama attended a madrassa in Indonesia. But, given the popular understanding of a madrassa as an al qaeda nest, the characterization of Obama's Indonesian school as such is nothing more than another cheap smear.
One more reason, Baron, why you are wise to ignore the 2008 Presidential election - all of the posts on your site dealing with the topic have done nothing but subtract from the credibility of Gates of Vienna.
It gets worse. I read somewhere that Palastenians in the west bank or gaza (I forget which) were actually cold calling people in the states on behalf of Obama.
Nodrog --
While it may or may not be “technically correct” to refer to the school that Barack Obama attended in Indonesia as a “madrassa”, mentioning it is not a “cheap smear”. Considering that the young BHO — according to the testimony of his sister — did what all the other children at his school did, that is, he memorized and chanted the Koran in Arabic, it’s not a trivial piece of information. It deserves to be mentioned, since it’s unlikely to get much coverage in the MSM.
I freely acknowledge that referring to the next President of the United States as “Barack Hussein Obama” is a dig, and that I enjoy doing it.
So tell me: what is it about my doing so that bothers you?
I presume it wouldn’t disturb you if I referred to “John Fitzgerald Kennedy”, or “Lyndon Baines Johnson”, or “James Earl Carter Jr.”, or “William Jefferson Clinton”, or “Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton”. So what’s wrong with “Barack Hussein Obama”?
There’s nothing wrong with his having a Muslim background, right?
So why be concerned about my referring to it?
Is it because the average American, if allowed to become aware of it, would become suspicious of BHO, and thus less likely to vote for him?
If so, why would the average American, despite all the years of incessant televised propaganda that tries to convince him that Islam is a religion of peace, be suspicious of someone with a Muslim background?
Do you think that somehow, against all odds, the truth has gotten through to Joe Sixpack and Suzie Bighair, and that they realize there’s something fishy about most devotees of the Prophet?
Are you perhaps afraid that the truth will in fact sink your candidate?
If so, let truth reign!
What is so wrong about saying B Hussien Winfrey of the Democrat Party's name?
I like none of your prospective presidential candidates. One is mad, the other is power hungry, the other is incredibly leftist!
I had the oportunity to watch one of your 'Republican' debates, I liked Mr Paul, Mr Huckabee sounded good, Mr Romney seemed not to have any opinions exept the ones that could get him elected, what I found suprising was McCains obvious mental problems, he was going for Mr Romney, not someone I hold a torch for, but in a way that seemed wierd, Mr McCains eyes seemed filled with madness, if this man becomes your president, God help you and the poor people of Iran.
Mrs Clinton is just power hungry, she comes across very badly as well, barely able to conceal her lust, at least she aint mad!
Obama is a leftist, a classic leftist, but he does come across well, he looks and acts the gentleman.
Obama is the best candidate, but that aint saying much!
Obama can change his middle name to something else anytime he wants. He could change it to Osama or something.
“Obama will not be able to deliver a positive working relationship with the Muslim people. The US people are very suspicious of his Muslim background and if they see him in a room with Muslim leaders they will not trust him to represents US interests,” said one of the respondents in Mogadishu.
How is it that someone half a world away is able to surmise what vast numbers of American voters simply cannot comprehend?
Moreover, doesn't the approval of democratic candidates by anti-American terrorist supporters confer all the benefits of an endorsement by Hitler? I'm eagerly awaiting to see if the democratic party can spin that well-digested straw into something remotely resembling gold.
“The whole world is looking to the US to bring back the dignity and morality of the US.”
Time to get under the hood and do a premise check. Aha, spotted it! The foregoing presumes that America has somehow lost its dignity and morality in the first place. What if the perceived deficit actually lies in how our enemies have been pimp-slapped into next Tuesday and this really constitutes an expression of preference for the usual groveling and self-deprecating America they know and love so well?
Ex-Gordon: Then, of course, the Barack HUSSEIN Obama angle, new, but also pathetically trite.
You really need to go Drinking with Bob. I'm sure he'd be more than glad to "talk" a little sense into you. Your offense taken at mere fact is more than pathetic. Either Obama comes forward with why he feels no one should mention his middle name or he can shut the f&%k up about it. Is he proud of it or ashamed? He certainly cannot be both so, which is it and why is he so offended about this?
But, given the popular understanding of a madrassa as an al qaeda nest, the characterization of Obama's Indonesian school as such is nothing more than another cheap smear.
Portraying a "madrassa as al qaeda nest" shows just how very little you really know regarding Islam. A madrassa is not an "al qaeda nest", it is an Islamic indoctrination center that spreads jihad, anti-American rhetoric and terrorism. Al Qaeda is merely a beneficiary of the filth they defecate in the form of graduates. Any connection between al Qaeda and the vast majority of madrassas is so tenuous as to render your assertion utterly puerile.
Furthermore, you can bet the farm that Obama was exposed to the same torrent of anti-West sewage in his madrassa that the overwhelming majority of them teach around the world. So, how does that make the Baron's observation into a "cheap smear".
Obama has Nation of Islam members on his campaign staff! Does that not alarm you?
Obama is a pathological liar. Does that not alarm you either?
One more reason, Baron, why you are wise to ignore the 2008 Presidential election - all of the posts on your site dealing with the topic have done nothing but subtract from the credibility of Gates of Vienna.
Let's do another premise check. Who benefits most from the previous assertion regarding credibility? Ex-Gordon has repeatedly had his @ss handed to him on a plate for routinely denying facts on the ground regarding Obama. Yet, we are somehow supposed to believe that it is Gates of Vienna whose credibility is being damaged. You make the call.
And speaking of calls:
spackle: Palastenians in the west bank or gaza (I forget which) were actually cold calling people in the states on behalf of Obama.
Wave to the camera.
I'd love to see Ex-Gordon—or anyone else for that matter—reconcile how the above respondent in Mogadishu and our Palestinian cold-caller are at such odds about Obama. Supportive or not, both of them provide vivid testimony about how Obama's Muslim background simply does not add up in America's favor.
The people speaking hate a strong America and prefer her on her knees. The Democrats are just the people to put her there.
Why do American liberals want their own country prostrate? Because her success so far has been the biggest rebuke to the ideas they hold dear, the ideas that failed in the Soviet Union. They would rather rule over rubble than give up their stupid and unworkable ideas.
Oh what a picture,the vision of all these erudite afghans,squatting next to thier flock of goats,miles from anywhere in semi-arid scrub,studying world politics and declaring thier democratic preferences,possibly a discarded financial times blowing across the dust toward the mountains.It really is a pity that travel to these places is impossible at present,because having travelled extensively in afghanistan i find it difficult to stop laughing at such an absurd proposition.
laine: The people speaking hate a strong America and prefer her on her knees. The Democrats are just the people to put her there.
Why do American liberals want their own country prostrate? Because her success so far has been the biggest rebuke to the ideas they hold dear, the ideas that failed in the Soviet Union. They would rather rule over rubble than give up their stupid and unworkable ideas.
Worth repeating. Spot on!
America's staggering success as the world's greatest experiment in democracy continues to serve as a standing rebuke to all other tyrannies. In a few short centuries our country has outstripped millennias of progress made by other nations.
Our enemies would have you believe it is all "zero sum": That America's wealth has been obtained at the expense of others. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Never in history has a single nation created so much economic wealth, nor has any nation so freely shared so much of that wealth.
What a bitter pill it must have been for so many other "master races" to watch a mongrel nation like America set foot on the moon.
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