Text 7657, 115 rader
Skriven 2007-12-08 15:15:58 av Peter Knapper (3:772/1.0)
   Kommentar till text 7644 av Carol Shenkenberger (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: George W. Bush
======================
Hi Carol,

 PK> Comming from you, I find that quite amazing. I would have said that
 PK> you, of  all (North American) people, seemed to be one of the most 
 PK> aware of the rest of the world, and yet from your statement 
 PK> above I am very surprised that we (on the "outside" looking 
 PK> in) are aware of at least 3 other supposed candidates. It 
 PK> just doesnt seem possible that what we see is a much more 
 PK> level playing field for the current Presidential game....;-)

 CS> Grin, sorry mistaken impression given there.  There are 
 CS> 17 candidates, it's just
 CS> that you hear 'more' on Hilary thn the others.

So I wasn't far from the mark, it seems visibility is related to "popularity"
(in other words "what the press thinks"), IE if the press can make news from
you, you become more popular... The frightening thing about that is that news
makes news, makes popularity, or the American population get told whats "good
for them"......;-(


 CS> Biden and Guliani are the other
 CS> 2 you hear of fairly often but not as often. 

Oddly enough, the news we see here seems to list those 2 about on a par (from a
news worthyness perspective) with Clinton, perhaps even slightly ahead, but I
can't tell if its perhaps slightly more "toungue in cheek", if you now what I
mean....;-)

 It's too 
 CS> early for the series to 
 CS> have really ramped up and having 17 candidates, isnt 
 CS> all that uncommon at this
 CS> stage for USA.

We rarely get to hear about more than the 4-5 leading candidates, but what is
visible to us is the effect those candidates might have on the rest of the
world, from comments they make about (or "from inside") the USA. Its kinda
wierd because there is bugger all we can do about it, but there still seems to
be some wierd sort of interest in whats going on...


 CS> What I find intriging is a growing support for changing 
 CS> the law so that next 
 CS> time (election after this one) someone like Arnold 
 CS> Swartznegger can run.  At
 CS> this time, he is not eligible as he was born overseas.

Yes, we have seen something like that mentioned, although I must admit, I can't
see it happening to soon, as its a radical departure from the status quo. 

 CS> I wonder what the world would think, if we elected 'The Terminator' as 
 CS> President?  He is doing a really good job in California 
 CS> as Gov. A few bobbles
 CS> but overall a well done job.  Most noticable was in the 
 CS> recent fires this past
 CS> fall.  Although fires are common out there, at the 
 CS> Santa Anna season, this 
 CS> year was particularily bad.  Folks are comparing his 
 CS> proactive stance with 
 CS> the Katrina mess and overall opinion of Arnold is rising fast.

From an outsiders perspective, allowing Arnold to stand for Pres would be
nothing short of extremely radical. The usual impression we see of this sort of
thing is that its just a candidates exercise to "get more votes for
re-election", but in Arnolds case he successfully seems to demonstrate that he
really cares, and its not all just show. Perhaps it is BECAUSE he is an
"outsider", that he is allowed to act in a different manner to those prior to
him...
      

 PK> I found your comments from Japan to be an extremely 
 PK> refreshing viewpoint, please retain that openess.

 CS> Not a problem!  I'm not mono-cultural <g>. I was once, 
 CS> but I got over it.  I
 CS> think most USA folks would object to being called 'mono-cultural' but the 
 CS> majority are even though unaware of it.  

                
Ack to all that. Experience working WITH Americans at work has revealed that
you NEVER tell them what they are doing wrong, just suggest possible ways of
improving the result by changing xxx. In an ironic way its sort of like the
"Saving Face" approach of the Japanese...;-)


 CS> Kinda like 'Kiwi' is a reference unless used in a negative manner.

In 1997 I spent 2 months in Sydney working on a project with 90 people from all
over the world. I learnt a lot about different cultures during that exercise,
however it was hard to descrive to most of them that I did not object to being
called "a flightless bird" (a Kiwi), I actually said to them that the term
"Kiwi" was "a term of endearment". That stunned most of them, but I think it
got the message through. Such names are far from an insult (to us), it is
somethig UNIQUE to our part of the world. However I can't see a North American
being called "Mr Bald Eagle" and it not being taken as an insult.....;-)


 CS> Grin, wanna really irk folks?  Pretend Z1 is just USA.  
 CS> The Canadians will be all over your ass <g>.

I can't offend the Canadians, I have cousins over there....;-)


 CS> BTW, did you know Z6 has checked in?  Yijun Fan 
 CS> (Lawrence) via Z3 numbers off
 CS> net 800.  

Yes I saw that, however nothing has appeared in the Z3 Sysop Echo yet...

Cheers.............pk.


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