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hiboutoo

Listed below are comments made by hiboutoo between Saturday, 7th June 2008 and Sunday, 1st February 2009.

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Obama confuses his enemies 06:53am on 01 Feb 2009 So the new POTUS is in office 10 days, he is trying to heal wounds, and Mr Krauthammer is already into self-righteous criticism. Self-righteousness got us where we are now. A few "mea culpas" is not actually hurting anyone, and may eventually do some good.

Whatever the truth of Mr Krauthammer's belief that governments engage in "humanitarian exercises of the highest order" without political advantage, the whole world, and a majority of US voters, think that the US has been getting it wrong these past few years. That is all Obama is saying. Is that an apology ? Most people would see it as simply a promise to try to do better. What's wrong with that ? That's why he was elected. That IS his job.

Give the guy a chance. With such "holier than thou" attitudes, these religious wars are going to destroy us all.
The euro: safety net or straitjacket? 07:15am on 31 Jan 2009 What was the substance of this piece? Lots of hypothetical questions but no answers. The Euro is neither a safety net nor a straightjacket in the current economic crisis.

Changes in interest rates appear to be of little help in a recession. The UK would have done poorly in or out of the Euro because of the importance of its financial and housing sectors.

As Mr Mardell appears to reluctantly conclude, no country will withdraw, and more countries will join, even the UK after further volatility of the pound and the realisation that "UK monetary independence" is useless in practice.
Rallying the crowd 11:38am on 13 Oct 2008 #2 "I have had a bet with my mates that John Mcain is the next president of America.."

If that happens it will be another devastating shock for Americans and the world. It will be the end of American leadership, and the beginning of responsibility for the rest of us.

If Obama is elected, Americans will feel so proud of themselves at the enormity of what they have done that renewed self-confidence will know no bounds. The world will again believe in US.

I will buy American stocks again just before the election, betting that Obama and America will win.
The candidate as Ordinary Joe 07:12am on 12 Oct 2008 Gavin Hewitt makes a good point that often puzzles non-Americans. How can they elect people who may be good old boys but who are clearly not terribly intelligent, like George W. Bush, Gerald Ford., Dan Quayle and dare I say Ronald Reagan ?

There is an egalitarianism in the American character that is not found elsewhere. They really believe that everyone is born equal, and that even the least of them can achieve greatness. This goes back to the founding of the colonies. In extreme cases it can mean that anyone who appears to be above average is seen as 'not one of us'.

Fortunately Americans also aspire to individual excellence, and and admire personal achievement. Balancing these two tendencies of egalitarianism and individualism is a difficult job for a politician, but Obama manages it better than anyone else today.

I am confident that this time Americans will choose the best man to lead their country in difficult times, as they always have.
A gloomy forecast 08:54am on 08 Oct 2008 This summary is even less exciting that the debate.

I watched it live, and McCain came over as old and tired, especially toward the end. As a "senior citizen" myself, I felt sorry for him. Obama, the younger man, was cool and in control all the way. Everyone had heard the arguments before, both tried to avoid controversy, and to that extent it was not exciting. But McCain needed to do something to regain control, and he didn't.

Finally, people will judge the personality that came across, and on that score Obama won hands down. I was surprised to see that even CNN came to much the same conclusion, scoring 60:30 for Obama in viewer polls. As one comentator said, if Obama loses after all (because of race and the Bradley effect), it will be (another) major shock for America.
Losing to the Brits 06:06am on 19 Aug 2008 I don't know about medals, but many of Nick's blogs get barely a dozen comments, and several zero ! I guess he needs to stir a bit to get his own medal count up.

Last time I looked, Australia had a total of (33) medals, much the same as the UK (27), Germany (23) and France (28). Is Nick really making a fuss over the UK currently having 12 golds to Australia's 11 ? As for Australian newspapers, they do much the same as UK newspapers - stir for 'news'. After all, they are mostly owned by the same Murdoch people.
France builds nuclear future 07:02am on 15 Jul 2008 It is clear that nuclear power must be an important component of near future energy production, and it is one of the French success stories, along with aeroplanes, rockets, trains etc. It is also far safer than coal mining.

Yet the current generation of nuclear plants burn only a small fraction of their uranium fuel. Research into more efficient reactors is urgently needed, but is held back by vocal protest groups, even in France. The UK and other countries no longer even have the basis for this research. That expertise is not something that can be created on the time scale of the growing demand and cost of energy.

A vigorous European effort is needed to develop "conventional" nuclear power, but since Brussels is incapable of doing that, the UK and France must work together on it.
Gutsy Gates 04:51am on 01 Jul 2008 The BBC's Justin Webb writes about the "the Bill Clinton sulk" Monday, and voila ! Tuesday the BBC news service reports that "Obama and Bill Clinton end chill".

Impressive ! The Clintons must be reading this blog and acting on it - unless of course the Telegraph and Justin just got it wrong again.
Gutsy Gates 4:37pm on 30 Jun 2008 Some of the comments here are much more interesting than the article itself, which is largely third-hand rumour. Gates cannot "veto" the President, but like others he can certainly try to influence policy. The US bombing Iran would not win any votes in November. Israel bombing Iran has to consider what it would really achieve, and what it might do to their relations with a future US.

And finally, we already know that Justin doesn't like Clinton, but does he really think that, even if Bill is sulking, it will make any difference to Obama's chances, or to Bill's future reputation as President ? Nonsense.
Why Clinton lost 7:36pm on 07 Jun 2008 So Mr Webb was there after all, and despite what he predicted a few days ago, Obama visited Clinton even before the event, and she endorsed him strongly. So much for all his psychoanalysis. That she didn't win because "she failed to speak at all to the BBC" i.e. Mr Webb :-) is a joke I presume. Perhaps that was because he himself comes across as unsympathetic to a woman who has fought hard for many years and has come out of that fight looking good - just one more of the male journalist pack following her around who don't like women who can be "tough and savvy and clever".

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