Election

With the election only days away, the prospects for the future are getting exciting. George Bush isn't going to win it this year (although, he's pulled off long shots in the past, so who knows). I've still been keeping track of the race, despite being on the otherside of the world. For once it is nice to spend an election year without having to watch all the negative political ads. One very shocking this is how much coverage the election gets down here.

The first day I was here, a car in the airport parking lot was adorned with McCain/Palin sticker. Almost everyone I've met asks me if I like Obama or McCain. They don't show the advertisements, but no news broadcast or newspaper is complete without some sort of election coverage. People here seem genuinely concerned with how the election is going to pan out this year.

One guy at the pub put it perfectly, "I'm really interested in what goes on in states. I read the American news everyday, cause if you guys sneeze, Australia gets a cold."

Already, the economic problems in the states have started stock crashes here. The Australian dollar is plummeting, even though the American dollar is staying steady. Just the fear of the US doing poorly causes major problems here.

Everyone here hates George Bush. For years, the Prime Minister here was Jon Howard, who apparently sided with Dubya on most things. Australia was one of the few other countries to send troops into Iraq. The two countries are curiously linked despite the distance.

As far as the perceptions of the candidates here, most people seem to really like Obama. They find him to be very intelligent and great speaker. Everyone thinks that he will be assassinated during his term. Nobody here seems to bothered by his race, but they are definitely concerned by how the American people will deal with it. Not many people here have much of an opinion or know anything about McCain, but they know he is close with Bush, so they are wary of him. Sarah Palin of course, is joke.