It is not really easy to be exposed to all the news about the upcoming elections in the states and remain silent, even if you know about American politics less than you know about Canary Islands. Taking a side feels good, as well. Therefore, this is why I chose Barack Obama.
- Republican vs. Democratic: I guess with my tedious arguments against the overdose of religion in Iran, it is clear why I like the Democrats more.
- Hillary vs. Barack: Maybe I don’t like her just because of the “Clinton Dynasty” thing. I’m just fed up with people with similar last names occupying the news.
Nevertheless, I find some of the remarks of Barack too simplistic, including when he promised to sit around a table with the Islamic Republic on the first year of his presidency (link). Hillary’s answer to the same question was very thoughtful.
Enough with this “Idiot’s Guide to US Elections”, I admire Americans, because a black person or a woman are the most likely to end up to be their president. This is happening less than two centuries after blacks were lashed down there. I believe there are a lot of things that we, Iranians, have to learn from the “Great Satan”.
“Republican vs. Democratic: I guess with my tedious arguments against the overdose of religion in Iran, it is clear why I like the Democrats more.”
I understand your felling but just would like to point out that is you can ignore “to abort or not to abort” and “to merry gay or not to merry gay” issues you are in no danger.
BTW, I would prefer Obama to Clinton but I would also prefer McCain to Obama.
Kamangir: I see. It’s just the whole issue of religious leaders intruding on my privacy that hurts me. I am not sure if it is the case in the US, and to which extent it is if it is, but having been exposed to it in Iran, I just can’t stand it over here.
Comment by leo — February 6, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
As a nation without an official religion (incidentally, also without an official language) the US is one of the most actively religious countries in the western hemisphere, with 73% of Americans (according to a 2006 Harris Poll) professing a belief in God. In defense of the Republican party, John McCain does not represent the so-called ‘religious right’ which is why so many pundits, analysts, and traditional Republicans find him an unlikely candidate for the party’s nomination. However religious voters don’t simply vote for the Republican candidate. There has been a trend in the past decade of religious voters moving towards the Democratic party. Evangelicals are a powerful bloc in the US and their political will can not continue to be expressed by a single party. Hillary and Obama both have made significant overtures to religious voters using unabashedly religious language. > > > While I don’t think that it’s historically unfair, say from 1980 to 2004, to describe the Republican party as more religiously oriented than the Democratic party, this is not to say that Democratic candidates for office are above using religious motifs, venues, and fears in order to mobilize voters.
Comment by Matthew — February 6, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0128/p25s01-uspo.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/30/MNVLTKGQ7.DTL
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/14/obamas_christian_appeal.html
didn’t appear above
Comment by Matthew — February 6, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
While it’s certainly true that religious voter blocs have tremendous power in American elections (though their collective power seems to be waning), there is no other country in the world with a stronger constitutional seperation of church and state. This is in no serious danger of changing, although I despise the political power of religious groups as much as anybody.
I enjoyed Hitchens’ response to the question of religion in America when he was on the Bill Maher show a few months back. He figures that most people lie when they tell a pollster about their religion, which I think is probably correct.
Comment by bp — February 7, 2008 @ 5:57 am
Michael Moore, director of Farenheit 911, who is well on the left talks about how religion informs his vote and how, as a Catholic, he won’t vote for someone who chose to send the US to war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGv6XBxk1IA
Comment by Matthew — February 7, 2008 @ 10:07 am
“Republican vs. Democratic: I guess with my tedious arguments against the overdose of religion in Iran, it is clear why I like the Democrats more.â€
I am confused; the way religion is used in Iran, has nothing to do the way religion is used in America.
Obama has talked about his religion more than any candidate in the race. He has quoted Bible way so many times. McCain has hardly talked about his religion even though he is pro-life and Obama is for abortion. Obama is for gay marriage and McCain is not.
I think Iranians should worry about Obama presidency , because Obama clearly wants to sit down and talk to Mullahs and give them more legitimacy than they deserve and he has hardly talked about Human rights abuses in Iran. Not even once, that should worry many Iranians!
Comment by Frieda — February 11, 2008 @ 12:46 am
I am a Canadian but I follow American politics closely since:
1) I like America
2) It is a nation that will have the greatest impact on the world no matter what they do and this is true no matter what they or the rest of the world wants.
I understand your reluctance to root for the Republicans due to their pandering to religious groups. I once felt the same way. But over the last few years I have noticed that it is all a lot more pandering than actual support. I have also noticed a lot of genuine support by the Democrats, their media and their colleagues in other nations and NGOs for the forms of Islam which are most political and for the regimes which are most theocratic or dictatorial. Nancy Pelosi showed up in Syria to press the flesh with supporters of Hezbollah and Obama seems to have a crush on Che.
For Republican, Anyone but Huckabee though I would not have picked McCain either for his economics.
For Democrats, I dislike Obama for many reasons but Hillary has had 8 years to decide on what other furniture to steal and what dirty tricks to play and at least Obama would give certain of my fellow Canadians the agony of seeing the nation they view as one big KKK convention elect a black man. Heads will explode. Our media pundits are already fantasizing about a future assassination of Obama by mobs of angry racist American so as to protect their hatred of the US.
Between McCain and one of the Democrats I would probably go McCain with my nose held and hope that all of his economic decisions to date have been motivated by a pandering instinct.
Comment by Saul Wall — February 12, 2008 @ 11:56 pm
I should mention that my support for Republican party is for that they claim to stand for: private enterprise, freedom of expression, opposing tyrannical governments and reducing the size of government etc. What they often stand for in practice is teaming up with Democrats for pork barrel politics and earmarks.
Comment by Saul Wall — February 13, 2008 @ 12:02 am
Do you really beleive that if the next US president would sit and talk to Iranian governer (without any pre-condition) this would be helpful for Iranian nation in any way and Iranian democracy specially? If so, I would like to know more that how this would happen in your openion.
From my point of view, although we may be boared to hear the same family names, but some known ideas or method are usually doing much better than some new faces with “non transparent” strange methods.
Iranians have once tested this for their previous ellection, how do you think is the result then?
Comment by Azza — February 19, 2008 @ 5:29 am