Thanks Col think we just took a wrong turn right? Hilary is from the right? of her party maybe.
Obama would not be a puppet leader he would look for real change.
No chance seems to exist for a Clinton Obama team.
So one or the other conservatives are concerned the man who will lead them is not conservative enough we live in interesting times
Still tip Obama to win or it will be a Republican white house.
Not bias just what I think I see in American politics today.

Belly "Still tip Obama to win or it will be a Republican white house.
Not bias just what I think I see in American politics today."

I lived in USA for 2 1/2 years. I did not understand their politics when I lived there and am no closer now.

The classic response from the UK was always

In the UK there was the right wing, represented by the conservatives and the left wing represented by Labour.

In the USA there are the Republicans, they are very much like the UK conservatives and then there are the Democrats, they are very much like the UK conservatives . . . .

I would note the US Union movement did not follow the political pattern of trade unions elsewhere. I think it might be because the history and generally inherited values of the USA tend to support what many consider to be to "the right of politics".

From my UK upbringing, I always considered it a significant advantage for the USA to be challenged at elections with policies from opposing parties which were far more similar than the diversity of the UK.

The UK suffered seriously, for whatever reason, with a swing of the political pendulum which represented a far wider arch between opposing political agendas.

I guess I recall Margaret Thatcher coming to power, a female US President would not concern me. Ultimately, the far more bipartisan nature of much of US politics ensures they get a better mix than most other countries which are run exclusively along party lines.

Yes Col you are about right but I want to differ a little bit.
Democrats have at times been close to British and Australian Labor.
Bill Clinton and if she gets the chance Hilary are intent on a better health system.
And why not? the current thing they have is dreadful!
The divide Democrats /Republican has never been wider than it now is.
But it is not yet as wide as we have.
We however have traveled some way toward their Democrats , that will see me branded right wing and class traitor but it is true.
We must watch the primary's today closely, this race is not over, my views stand, but anything can happen.
Point to watch, the part super delegates will play.
Both Obama and Hilary are getting a bit hot under the collar keep it clean or another candidate will be found it happens.
The impending two big state votes in a few weeks are not yet going to vote Obama will they change?
And yabby highlighted the insane factor in America it could play a part.

Belly “that will see me branded right wing and class traitor but it is true.”

I was brought up in a “working class” household in UK. My dad worked on the railways and my grandfathers, one was a driller in a dockyard and the other did variously everything from toolmaker to bus driver.

One comment I would make to your statement which might explain the difference in our political philosophy.

You use the term “class traitor”.

To use that term means “class” must mean something to you.

I used the term only to identify my origins, not as some label I see stamped on my forehead.

The reasons I migrated from UK were to change the things I could not alter within myself.

The entrenched attitude toward “class” which prevailed many other English folk was one of them.

I recall an argument between one of my uncles and an aunt. The uncle (my favourite actually), was a dockyard rigger, hard labouring work, the aunt, married to his brother was a nice lady and her husband was MD of a large engineering company. I do not recall how it started but it ended with the observation by the aunt that my (favourite) uncle was an inverted snob who wore his working classness like a suit of armour.

She was right.

She and my other uncle had evolved from where “class” mattered. My other uncle was still entrenched in it.

I am like my aunt.

I have moved from where class matters. I do not associate politics with class. I do not follow the politics of my parents. I try to view the world through classless values where shiny shoes, a plumb stone in the mouth and an old school tie mean nothing.

As for the USA, they place far less value in “class”. That is another good thing about their system.

I normally agree with much of what Yabby writes but on the matter of conspiracy theories for the assassination of presidential candidates, I will disagree.

The USA has a “health system”. It is not good.

Nor is UK system.

Col, I'm not into conspiracy theories either, I'm simply going
by my understanding of the US.

There is a huge gun culture there, which is part of their way
of life. IIRC something like 100'000 a year are shot and around
20'000 a year die from guns. Its part of their way of life and
thats how they grow up. Most of the gun culture people are
on the republican side of politics.

Last time I was in the US, I asked the New Orleans taxi driver
how dangerous his job was. He mentioned that 6 of his buddies
had been shot that year and it was only August.

Whilst there are some very sophisticated and innovative people
in the US, its a country of extremes and there are plenty of
extremely primitive ones, also many mentally unstable ones
on the streets and guns are easily available to them.

Alot of these kids have grown up learning that guns are the
solution to a problem, no wonder so many school kids are shot.

Another thing I found in the US is huge hatred between the
races, certainly in the South. Frankly I will me quite amazed
if a few of these mentally unstable, gun toting haters don't
take a shot at Obama. I mean, they even shot John Lennon.

Belly, please do not presume I was attempting to be in anyway critical of you earlier, when I was commenting on the issue of “class”. That was not intended at all, I was just expressing what I thought might be part of the reason for the differences of approach to problems which separate you and I. Please accept my apology if you found any offence in what suggested.

Yabby
Agree with you on the gun issue. It is a problem which has been ignored for far too long and when I lived there, my (then) wife had 6 pistols and rifles hanging around the place. Having been brought up in UK, my “attitude” is probably more toward gun restrictions than the average Aussie.

I never experienced interracial hatred but again could well imagine it. One fellow I knew was a song writer and had success with something he wrote following Dr ML Kings demise. He had been confronted by the KKK. He was remarkably calm but he was also a very phlegmatic sort of fellow.

“Frankly I will me quite amazed if a few of these mentally unstable, gun toting haters don't
take a shot at Obama. “

I would suggest the risks Obama might face equal to those which Hilary Clinton and John McCane face.

The problem remains, as you pointed out, not the mentally ill themselves but the ease of access to deadly weapons.