The U.S. Election – Views From Around the World
[All are quotes]
Toronto Globe and Mail
…In Canada, the law says the media cannot report results in a
region where citizens are still voting, partly because of fears that
people can be influenced.
Jakarta Post
Watching the dramatic twist of events, one could not but give a
thumbs up to the democratic process maturely adhered to by the
American people…As a fledgling democracy, Indonesia could
learn much from Wednesday”s [well, it went into Wednesday]
U.S. election…
La Repubblica (Italy)
Clinton”s heritage is a poisoned apple that Gore and Bush have to
bite. No politicians, no journalists, no organizers who lived
through the Halloween election night will never again fully trust
the voodoo of the fake experts and of the “exit polls” – those
polls abused by the media.
Die Welt (Germany)
The whole world is watching America…This is no cheap thriller,
no soap opera, but a debacle…a giant empire with 280 million
citizens sends its voters to the polls, and the candidates remain
deadlocked in a way we don”t even see during elections in
Uzbekistan or Switzerland. [Ed. Strange selection of countries to
match us against.]
The (London) Times…Joanna Coles
The tussle for the sceptre of the world”s most powerful
democracy grows more unseemly by the day…
Of course the enduring mystery in all of this is why several
thousand elderly folk in Palm Beach retirement condos
apparently became so confused lining up the right holes with the
right names in the first place.
I mean, these people should be the Olympians of the ballot sheet.
They spend most of their waking hours nimbly filling out bingo
cards and lottery forms. You”d think it would be second nature
to them.
The (London) Times…William Rees Mogg
There is a possible political compromise. This election has, in
reality, been a dead heat…If the recounts do not produce a
convincing result, and they are somewhat unlikely to do so, the
House of Representatives could elect a Republican President, but
they are not bound also to elect a Republican Vice-President.
Senator Joseph Lieberman…would be well qualified; Dick
Cheney could withdraw and join the Bush Cabinet. There would
be no change in control of the Senate. Honor would be satisfied
in a perfectly constitutional way.
Segodnya (Moscow)
American democracy is childish…”Liberty or death” – this is the
motto of some American state. [Ed. Writer must have meant
”Live Free or Die,” Vermont”s motto.] And everyone there has
faith in this demagoguery, the way everyone believes in God, the
American dream, and equal opportunities. We, the adults, know
this for what it is: a trick. And they (not individually, but as a
society) do not know that there can be no liberty, any more than
there can be equal opportunities. They still have faith in those
fairy tales thought up by their founding fathers 200 years ago,
and live by them.
Hence the difference: If Russia split 50/50 over who should be
president, it would mean civil war. In the United States, they do
a recount. This is why we live this way. Us – cynical, fed up
and smart. And them – nanve, cheerful, and rich.
[From an article by Michael Wines / New York Times]
Christoph Bertram, head of Germany”s Research Institute for
International Affairs. (On America”s electoral system)
They have an idiotic system of government invented 200 years
ago…You may have a situation where the candidate who wins in
the Electoral College may not win the popular vote – it is an
extraordinary political system not to be emulated by anyone.
Vouma (Weekly newspaper in the Central African Republic)
All (this) is a very long way away. I wonder if Al Gore or
George Bush Jr. could point to the Central African Republic on a
map.
The (London) Times…Tim Hames
This fiasco could have happened at any time during the past 200
years…In truth, Americans have just been extremely lucky that
their political system has not blown up when it mattered most,
but instead at a point when it can provide more material for the
late-night comedians…
The American Constitution…is the triumph of aristocracy over
democracy, the uncertain over the specific and the past over the
future.
The prospect that a President could conceivably arrive in
Washington DC despite receiving fewer votes than his opponents
is more than a curiosity, it is a scandal.
Milenio (Mexico City daily…the morning after the election)
Headline: “Fraud Suspected in the United States”
Secondary Headline: “American madness – 30,000 votes lost in
Florida”
The Jerusalem Post…David Newman
There has been a sort of cynical pleasure around the world as
people everywhere watch America squirm uncomfortably as it
attempts to resolve the presidential elections. The country which
always purports to tell everybody else just how a good
democracy should be managed has suddenly discovered that
there are some major problems in its own backyard which need
to be dealt with if they are not to recur four years down the road.
—
Yoh. Y”all calm down.
Brian Trumbore
