what I think is right

Politics I continue to be obsessed with the US presidential campaign season, far more to be honest than I've ever been with our own elections. Obviously some of this has to do with the glamour of it all, the big stadiums, the rhetoric, the colours (and being from Liverpool I can well understand how divisive the colours red and blue can be depending upon the context). Unlike UK politics of late in which ideologies have rather become blurred, the selection of Palin sees the two sides, liberal and conservative, being polarised around fundamental points of view, between what I think is right and what's clearly wrong. There's no grey area this time, or rather a kind of purple.

After spending months saying that I didn't really care who the Democratic candidate would be, after seeing his 'conference' speech, I've become really rather energised by Obama. He is fresh, he is new and more importantly it seems like he would be perfect for the job president. Much was made in the past couple of days about how Palin and McCain's speeches demonstrate that 'they're just like us' (or in this case 'they're just like US'). Which is fine, if that's what you want, though you can't then complain if they're just as corruptible as we are and prone to the same mistakes. Personally what I would like to see is someone who's nothing like us; I want someone who's better than I am, because otherwise what's the point?

Also: Now that was one bad convention speech: "John McCain sounded like the vestry board chairman speaking at the church social about the success of the raffle. Or, as a colleague just put it: he looked like the guy who'd been the office accountant for 40 years giving his retirement address. After he'd eaten a little too much Chicken Kiev."