Europe is Gonna Hate This Lady

I'm afraid we have a real race on our hands. Everyone in the Obama camp (and the U.S. media) was feeling pretty cocky right after the Democratic National Convention. It didn't last very long.

McCain really pulled a fast one on us with this conservative lady governor. Everyone's first reaction was, "What an idiot McCain is! Does he think we're stupid"? Then she got up to speak. And the chick can speak.

The media instantly piled on trying to bring up any dirt they could - and there is some dirt - but everything they said only hurt Obama more. Sarah Palin is a tough one to beat up on. The Obama-supporting media actually called her a bad mother because she has a job! Now that's a tough sell - and a very hypocritical position for the Democrats to take. They have to be very careful here or it will continue to jump up and bite them in the ass.

I do know one thing though. Europe (and the American Left) is going to hate this lady. She possesses a boatload of the "typical" American stereotypes that Europe hates. Like:

1) Conservative Politically
2) Religious (Christian, of course. The religion they can't stand the most)
3) Goes Hunting!
4) Comes from a small town
5) Only been out of the US one time.
6) Is against abortion
7) Has a bunch of kids
8) Chose to have a Down's Syndrome child instead of aborting.

I know she will be dismissed as a conservative religious fanatic by most Europeans. The same is happening in the U.S. media. But, she's different. She's a mother, not rich, not male, not Washington. She may be more religious than you or me, but she is more "real" than all of those other politicians. People tend to identify with that. Can she "Be the leader of the free world" as they say? Is she qualified? Who knows? But who the hell is!

This is going to be very interesting. The Obama camp is praying (yes, they are praying now) that she will just make a massive mistake. We'll see. If she puts McCain in the white House many people are going to be in total shock - in the U.S. and in Europe. And boy will they be pissed!

Still Too Shallow to Appreciate Woody

I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona last night and I have to say I still don’t get Woody. I must be too shallow. I love his early stuff though – when he was funny - movies like Annie Hall, Sleeper, and Love and Death. But now I just get irritated.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is about obviously rich and spoiled broads, who have all the time and money in the world to just hang out and worry about things, complain and whine, cheat on their boyfriends / husbands, and basically be ungrateful for everything they have.

As a guy who knows how much things cost in Spain, and most importantly, how expensive time is, the time to do what you want, time to hang out, time to think instead of working, etc… It really annoys me that everyone in this movie is seemingly filthy rich with lots of time on their hands. They stay in virtual palaces, go to hotels that would easily cost 600 Euros a night, they fly in private planes, go to quaint private Spanish guitar performances, they spend money on the town like drunken sailors and all with no visible means of support.

The same goes for the painter, Javier. His house is amazing, he drives a vintage 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto in perfect condition (no maintenance there, ha!), flies a plane, and all without ever selling a painting (they all looked pretty bad to me). He’s not exactly a poor, suffering artist….

I know I’m supposed to suspend disbelief but I couldn’t do it. There was nothing real people could relate to in this movie.

In short, everyone is a self-obsessed whiner, especially the Americans. Honestly, they are an embarrassment – and boring to watch. The only character that was interesting, who actually moved around a little and said something different was Penelope. She looks good angry too.

Woody Happily Takes Barcelona's Money - While They Go Broke

It’s a tough contrast to see Woody next to those two. I considered cutting him out of the picture but news is news. Just hold your hand over Woody’s face so you can enjoy the view.

Allen’s latest movie premiered in L.A. this week. As you remember, Woody got paid from the guys in charge in Barcelona / The Generalitat, to make the movie. You would assume Allen has a special place in his heart for Barcelona or something, but it turns out that Woody would have gone to any ol’ city to film – just as long as they picked up the tab:

Quote Allen, “People from Barcelona called and said if I was interested in making a film there, they would finance it, so I said, ‘sure’,” he admitted at Cannes. “If someone had called me from Rome or Venice or Stockholm or god knows where, I probably would have agreed to it just as readily.”

Nice Woody! You should at least lie a little and say that Barcelona is the greatest place in the world and you would’ve spent even your own money to film there.

What’s funny about this (not funny, ha, ha, but funny ironic) is that on the same day, in the same newspaper (El Pais), the front page headline is the following:

Catalans’ “basic services” threatened by cash shortfall

It seems that the down-turn in the economy could effect education and even healthcare. Of course they are blaming Madrid for taking their money but what about bone-head moves like this one?

I wonder if Woody shares any of the money the movie makes with Barcelona. If he does, I’m sure the “usual” Hollywood accounting practices will be in place, i.e., even if it makes a ton of money (which it won’t) – Barcelona will be told it was all spent in distribution, sorry!

Does Anyone Else Think This is Nuts?

Well, he only killed twenty five people, it's not like it was a really awful crime. He also was a nice guy in prison, working in the laundry and so on, so that really counts. And he did do 14 months for each of his victims (21 years for 25 murders). So, what more do you want?

Seriously, what the hell is Spain thinking? Is this some kind of joke? Symbolic prison sentences of 3000 years, time off for "good behavior" in murder cases, child rapists let out after a ridiculously short sentence - or doing no time at all! I know we Yanquis are brutal barbarians with the death penalty and all (not in all states), but I'm sorry, this guy should not walk out of prison ever, neither should child killers. Pedophiles can not be "reformed" and guys who kill 25 people revoke their right to live in society with the rest of us, even if they convert into Mother Teresa in jail.

What's He Gonna Say?

From Bloomberg about Obama's big Berlin Speech:


``We may be in for a rude awakening,'' said Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a member of parliament's foreign affairs committee from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. ``Obama views cooperation as anything but a one-way street.''

Obama ``wants to make the old alliances more meaningful by asking more of the allies,'' said Jan Techau, a transatlantic affairs expert at the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations. ``He will try and softly prepare the Europeans for what's going to happen as soon as he enters the White House, if he does so.''

Obama may demand ``greater burden-sharing'' from European allies in Afghanistan, said Eckart von Klaeden, foreign-affairs spokesman for Merkel's Christian Democrats.

``Obama has made it very clear that he will channel the resources from Iraq into Afghanistan, because Afghanistan in his eyes is the right war to fight,'' said Techau. ``And for that right war to be successful, he will ask for more.''

``I'm somewhat wondering about how realistic our expectations are,'' Stelzenmueller said, adding that she expects ``nothing concrete'' in terms of policy proposals. ``Ultimately, Obama has no choice but to pursue U.S. national interests, even though he displays multilateral instincts.''

Nice Post Over at Hermann's

Some people are pissed off that Iraq is going well. I know the newspapers really don't like to mention it. Clarsonimus notes how the Germans don't want to talk about it but they will gladly go to Iraq and drill some oil.

Obama the American

Europe is excited about a possible President Barack Obama. This is something they did not think was possible, after all it has been shoved down their throats for decades what an unfair and racist society America is. Another thing shoved down their throats is that President Bush is the most evil, arrogant, violent, stupid, imperialistic and greedy man in the world.

Enter Obama stage-left politically, or so Europe hopes. Here’s the guy that is going to fix it all. He’s going to pull out of Iraq, he’s going to be Mr. Environmentalist, he's going to be some kind of new American Socialist. (What’s funny about this is that now that Bush is leaving most of Europe has conservative governments). They think he is just going to toe the line on what the world wants.

In Madrid recently, I had a conversation with a Spanish friend who was going on about Obama’s ethnicity and rumored (incorrectly) religious beliefs. He was describing him as black, as maybe Muslim, as a minority, just as “different”. So I told him, “You’re forgetting one thing. Above all that - he’s an American.”

I think Europe could be making the same mistake. If they think there is going to be some huge sea change in American policy due to an Obama presidency – they’re wrong. There will be changes of course. But there is no way he’s going to bail on Iraq immediately, he is already basically saying as much. There is no way he won’t continue in Afghanistan. He is not going to suddenly stop the fight against terrorism. He already voted for Bush’s renewal of the FISA electronic surveillance bill, the same goes for economic policies, etc. Obama has started his inevitable move toward the political center so he can get elected.

So in short, I’m expecting a nice honeymoon period for Barack Obama in Europe right after he’s elected. He will be seen as being able to do no wrong, as somehow just not like those other Presidents. Then there will be the gradual realization, issue by issue, that things really haven’t changed too much – just the packaging has.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Europe is going to miss George W. Bush. Now there was a guy everyone could agree on hating. Judging a book by it’s cover is just so much easier than reading it. George Bush's book cover was clear - Republican, white, rich kid, etc. Obama's cover looks easy to judge also - but is it?