I haven’t been around. Neither has Jenna. Now that I’ve finished stating the obvious…

Had another good politics conversation down the pub with some British friends. Other than that I’m mostly sick and tired of reading about the primaries and McCain’s lobbyist ties. Probably the highlight of the week’s political news for me was Jenna telling me how some people honestly believe Barack Obama is the antichrist. Hilarious.

Some links you might want to check out include:

• An expat in Nicaragua weighs in on immigration.

• Some of the likely pitfalls in US/European relations following the election. A really interesting read.

• The US government’s Voting Assistance Guide, which they repeatedly refer to as VAG throughout the site. My 11 year old brain finds this amusing.

I’m pretty sure there are some things I should be weighing in on, but I’m just not feeling engaged at the moment. Maybe after the next round of primaries…

We seem to have a distinct lack of international perspective around these parts. In fact, we seem to have a distinct lack of anyone besides me. I considered posting an anti-McCain piece to rally Jenna to some good vitriol spewing, but I’ve been busy enjoying the weather and diligently avoiding work and never got around to it. Besides, if she doesn’t check the blog she won’t see it, and it looses about 98% of its effect if I have to tell her it’s there. 

Because all you’re getting is me dithering I think it’s time to start posting links to what other people are saying. I wanted to start doing a collected links of the day thing, but I’m still on a desperate and fruitless quest for something resembling a neutral source. I know it’s a fools errand, but I have all this excess Hope (TM) that I keep pouring into undeserving vessels like the media. 

Absenting a neutral source, here’s a link from DailyKos. Hey, it’s an international perspective!

I’m pretty sure I am misusing ’shill’ in the title. I am full of wine and don’t much care.

Just wanted to share a cute little story with you. Last night I was out and a bouncer at one of the pubs I frequent was puzzling over the New York drivers’ license I gave as ID. He’s taken it many times before, but this time he couldn’t make sense of it and passed it to the other bouncer, an older man with a Caribbean accent.

“Oh, what part of New York are you from?”

“Staten Island. Nothing very exciting I’m afraid!”

“Is that where Clinton is from?”

“No, she’s from further north. Staten Island is a part of New York City.” (It pained me unbelievably to say that Clinton was from New York at all, but I wasn’t about to start calling her a usurper to the bouncer!)

“Aah.”

“Why, are you a Hilary Clinton fan?”

“No! Obama!”

“Me too! That’s awesome!”

And then I high fived the bouncer and I felt really good.

It’s interesting that people who have absolutely no investment in the process whatsoever still know about our politics. I guess you could say that the US makes darn sure that its government choices affect the entire world, but I’d still wager that there are people in the US who know less about the primaries than that man, a Caribbean immigrant to the UK. While celebrating “Pancake Day” on Tuesday with some of my British friends we also had a discussion about the primaries, where they proved to be very knowledgeable about parties, the nominating process, delegates and the candidates. When you contrast that to my complete lack of knowledge of how the heck Gordon Brown ended up as the PM… well I don’t know if it’s the education systems, the fact that the BBC–the ‘mainstream media’–actually understands that there are countries besides the one they are based in…I just don’t know.

But basically, that’s the gist of it. I’m really impressed. I wish Americans would show the same savvy.

I say this as someone who went to bed at 3am GMT, slept fitfully for a few hours, was wide awake at 6:30am GMT, and had to force herself to stay in bed until 9 before running to the computer to find out about Super Tuesday results. You might want to have your salt shakers ready.

STOP SPECULATING ABOUT THE DEMOCRATIC FRONT-RUNNER. The delegate counts aren’t finalized yet. Things are still really fluid and the counts are close. Do I want Obama to be the front runner? Yes. Do I think he’s guaranteed the delegate advantage after everything is tallied? Not by a long shot. Do I think Clinton has emerged victorious from Super Tuesday with a comfortable delegate lead that cannot be overturned? Not at all.Seriously people, we’ve finally got New Mexico semi-sorted enough to call it for someone…we’ll get to the rest soon.

This post was just an excuse to post these lyrics, as you might have been able to tell from the title.

Come writers and critics who prophecize with your pen,
And keep your eyes wide, the chance won’t come again.
And don’t speak too soon ’cause the wheel’s still in spin,
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’.
Cause the loser now will be later to win,
For the times, they are a’changin’.

Word, Bob.

…to call the Democrats Abroad vote for Obama, but early results seem to say he’s got 75% of that vote. Edit: It seems I am silly. Those numbers are with just the precincts in Indonesia reporting. The full results won’t be in until 12 February or later.

I feel sad that I already voted absentee (in NYC…Clinton country!) well before I had even heard about Democrats Abroad. In proportion to delegates, I think my vote would have counted for more in the DA election. Besides, it will be May before my absentee ballot is even looked at… (Perhaps I exaggerate a bit.)

This is my last post before Super Tuesday and its slurry of election results.

Tonight a friend posted on my Facebook wall (oh yes, we’re young’uns around these parts, if you didn’t already know) that: “My faith in humanity (or at least, the democratic party) will be restored with an Obama victory!”

I just wanted the record to reflect that my faith in humanity has already been restored. Obama victories certainly help the enthusiasm crescendo, but the power of finally having something to believe in, of finally having a politician who represents you being heard by millions of people…that’s amazing and that’s what does it. These victories won’t be made hollow in the event that the underdog doesn’t pull through. John Edwards is out of the race but he helped bring progressive values to the table. If Obama goes out (and it won’t be tomorrow) he will have brought hope and a change in rhetoric to the table. Clinton is a chameleon; she’ll pick up those values and those words and that dream and she’ll make them her own and her campaign will be better for it.

I’ve never been so proud of my country as I’ve been in 2008.

“But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.”
-Barack Obama 

Amazing video.

I think the very fact that I am posting this quiz result merits the revocation of any claims I may have to being an “intellectual” or a member of a “reality based community.”

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

But hey, quizzes are fun right?

MoveOn.org has endorsed Obama. I find this simultaneously exciting and scary, because they can be a bit extreme for me. And you can trust me on that since I’m reality based and all that jazz.

Our setup seems to be a little wacky in that it doesn’t show who is posting what! Silly WordPress… For now we’re just going to slap our names all over everything and hope for the best.

This post is just a reminder that midnight today, 31 January 2008, is the last chance you will have to register to participate in the international Democratic primary on 5 February, “Super/Tsunami” Tuesday. Once again, sorry Republicans. I think you should make a fuss and demand an international primary in 2012/2016.

That said, I don’t know who we’re reminding since we haven’t really told anyone about this blog yet, but it just seemed irresponsible not to!

Next up: Kirsten’s rant against uninformed voters. We’ll tackle the non-voters some other time.

Cheers,
Kirsten.

We’re looking to launch on Super Tuesday, so this entry is really just a placeholder in case you stumble this site before then.

Two quick announcements:

1) Drop a comment if you’re an American living abroad who is interested in blogging on the 2008 election.

And

2) 1st February is the deadline to register to vote in the global Democratic primary on 5th February. You can sign up here: http://votefromabroad.org/ If you’re still eligible to vote via your home address in the States I don’t think you qualify, but it probably applies to at least some permanent expats. Sorry to anyone who wants to vote in the Republican primary, as the GOP has not yet launched online absentee voting. However, you can check out their outreach site at http://www.republicansabroad.org/ for the other resources they offer. (Democrats have a similar site: http://www.democratsabroad.org/. Don’t want anyone to feel neglected!)