Why does anybody listen to Bolt away the man is a shock jock and nothing more.

Dr Robertson seeks to discount my views re US studies by asserting that i am not an 'Americanist'(whatever that beast is). I'm pleased that US History is going so well at Sydney, but Sydney is not Australia. When i last checked a grand total of 4 people was teaching US politics in Australia--and one of those has recently retired. This is a 'disgrace' in a country where the study of US politics used to flourish.
The big issue is not whether i or Dr Robertson are correct, but can we be assured that the proposed US Studies Centre is not to be a propoganda factory and who will give that assurance George or John?
Brian Costar

We had to do US studies in high school as it was a compulsary term in civics: or what they used to call "politics" in the Victorian education system. The problem was, that I then became an exchange student to the US. I found that I knew their Government system and histroy better than they did. This made me most unpopular there, as it was embarassing for them having a foreigner know their system better than they did. It would have been easier for me to know nothing at all. They get all insecure about it and resent us being "smart asses".

Look I really believe in cultural exchange, especially between Australia and the US. It is hard to believe from my other postings on other pages, but I really do love the US just as much as I love Australia. We do have similarities. We both have fantastic people, magnificent countries and really lousy political leaders.

John Howard would have been more wise to recipricate a cultural exchange scholarship deal between Australian and US Universities, espeicially in the departments of civics, business, and culture.

Americans would really benefit knowing more about Australia, just as much as we will benefit from knowing more about them. It is a two way road. In this region, they not only learn about Australia, but Oceania, and a particular angle of South East Asia. Now this is starting to look like a credible proposal for ASEAN. But, alas, recriprical cultural exchange never crossed Johnny Howard's mind.

Although you sneer at others for not having ‘expertise’ on the United States and claim to be an historian, you cannot even get basic facts about the United States that happened less than 10 years ago correct. You refer to “a president narrowly escaping impeachment for his sexual behaviour”. In fact, Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on grounds of perjury to a grand jury and obstruction of justice.

Clinton was the second president to be impeached. Both were acquitted in the subsequent Senate trial. Impeachment occurs when the House of Representatives passes the articles of impeachment – a legal statement of charges, parallel to an indictment in criminal law.

Responding to Brian Costar:

We agree on one thing: the inattention to the US in politics departments in Australia is a disgrace. And if that had been what Prof. Costar told Andrew Bolt I wouldn't have taken issue with his comments. Unfortunately, instead he said that American Studies in Australia is a disgrace.

Politics is not American Studies; it has been one of the core disciplines in the field, but it has always shared that position with History and English. The situation with regard to scholarship and teaching on the US in those disciplines is far from the disgrace that it is in politics. While Sydney may not be Australia, the strength of American history at the University of Sydney is representative of its strength in Australia's major universities, as any member of the American studies community -- any Americanist -- could tell you.

But Prof. Costar says the real issue is whether the proposed US Studies Centre will be a propoganda factory. Surely offering a misleading characterization of American Studies in Australia, by providing a rationale for denying academics in the field a role in shaping the Centre, actually contributes to the very outcome he fears?

Let's also agree to abandon ad hominem arguments.
Tell me this: which Universities in Australia offer undergraduate majors in 'American Studies'?
Brian Costar