‘MUDFIGHT’
In the eyes of much of the world, Americans – and particularly White males – have come a long way since the election of 2004.
For French newspaper Liberation, author Annette Levy-Willard describes how and why the Joe the Plumbers and Joe Sixpacks of the world have abandoned McCain-Palin.
Willard starts out this way:
“The American is not always a cretin, it must be said. Having covered Bush’s reelection campaign four years ago, I saw how that debilitating cocktail of ‘gay marriage-abortion-family-religion-terrorism,’ mixed into the cauldron labeled ‘moral values broth,’ moved entire states into W’s column.
“The ‘true’ American, according to conservative mythology, is White, with family, patriotic, extremely religious, hates socialism, communism, foreigners and paying taxes. He is so naive that he believes he can save America by attacking Iraq and, at any rate, he has invested himself in a mission: to export his model to other people (without asking their opinion). This American, if he ever existed, no longer exists. This is the terrible discovery that McCain and the Republicans have just made. And it’s super-good news for America and the rest of the world. ”
And why has this breed of American male abandoned the right? Willard writes in part:
“The White American – whom McCain calls Joe the Plumber or Palin calls Joe Sixpack – is no longer blinded by lies. He has seen the war in Iraq and is suffering through a crisis, while Republicans spouting about abortion, taxes or an American victory in Iraq no longer move him. The latest poll shows that half of White men are going to vote Democrat. For the first time in thirty years!
They want someone who speaks concretely, calmly, moderately: in the center. They refuse to scorn the intellectual, the notorious “elite” that the McCain camp denounces – Obama graduated from Harvard. They refuse to be afraid (of bin Laden, of the enemies of America, etc.) The White American male has closed himself off from old-fashioned ideology and has entered the rational era.”
Is Willard right? We’ll soon see …
By Annette Lévy-Willard*
Translated By Kate Davis
October 29, 2008
France – Liberation – Original Article (French)
The American is not always a cretin, it must be said. Having covered Bush’s reelection campaign four years ago, I saw how that debilitating cocktail of “gay marriage-abortion-family-religion-terrorism,” mixed into the cauldron labeled “moral values broth,” moved entire states into W’s column.
The “true” American, according to conservative mythology, is White, with family, patriotic, extremely religious, hates socialism, communism, foreigners and paying taxes. He is so naive that he believes he can save America by attacking Iraq and, at any rate, he has invested himself in a mission: to export his model to other people (without asking their opinion).
This American, if he ever existed, no longer exists. This is the terrible discovery that McCain and the Republicans have just made. And it’s super-good news for America and the rest of the world. Five days before the election and the situation has become clear. Obama is going to win because the America to whom McCain and Palin are speaking just isn’t hearing anything they’re saying.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated and English-language foreign press coverage of the U.S. election
