Like most people, I spent a large part of last weekend watching the Olympics. (Yay - good job London.) While it was fairly momentous that Presidential wannabee Mitt Romney announced a running mate, (Paul Ryan), I only caught the odd moment here and there of the various chest-thumpings.
What I did hear pee'd me off somewhat, and has been doing so for quite a while.
Euro-bashing.
Ever since he threw his hat into the Presidential ring in 2008, and declared a need for accessible health care for all, Obama has been called a Socialist, a Communist and/or a Marxist. As is obvious, by the inter-changeability of these labels, most of the name-callers can't tell one from the other, it's just used as a general anti-American slur, - always linked to Europe. And not in a good way.
Romney has long campaigned on the anti-Europe stump, having said last year that Obama takes his "political inspiration from Europe". Oooh, hiss boo. Adding "Europe isn't working in Europe". This past weekend his main message was that if we vote for Obama in November we'll "end up like Europe", and again, not in a good way. (Wouldn't you think, after the gaffes he made on his TransAtlantic visit recently, he'd try to avoid looking even more of an idiot in the eyes of our global peers?)
Err, excuse me? Can you imagine if Cameron, Hollande or Merkel had campaigned by pointing west over the Pond, and issuing dire warnings of "turning out like those Yanks?". French Fries would have to be re-named "Freedom Fries" all over again, although I'm fairly sure the beloved hamburger wouldn't be boycotted. (And by the way, last I knew, Cameron wasn't a Socialist.)
Interestingly, if you talk to any "real" Socialists over here, they laugh at the mere suggestion that Obama is one of them. According to Greg Pason, of the USA's Socialist Party, Obama's "Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act", (aka Obamacare) is "anything but Socialist."
So come on Romney and all you uninformed name-callers, if you're going to hurl insults, just get it right.
Or left.
I'd go along with what you wrote. There's plenty of imperfections to work on right here at home - no need to casting stones at others until we get our own nest cleaned up.
ReplyDeleteI just remember this (recent) gaffe by the senator:
ReplyDeletehttp://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/y/8/1/romney-money-picture-c.jpg
Says it all really.
LCM x
Great post. Just being in the US for a week or so, I'm tired of being on the receiving end of some people pontificating on the evils of national health care -- people who have never been outside the US, let alone actually lived in a country that has it.
ReplyDeleteSigh. I wrote about this sort of thing a while ago in my post 'US Airlines, Infrastructure, and Attitude' -- here if of interest http://mysydneyparislife.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/us-airlines-infrastructure-and-attitude/
We all have much to learn! Cheers.
Re:LCM
ReplyDeleteI am no fan of Mitt Romney (can't stand him actually) but that photo is a pure hoax. Snopes.com is a great online source for quickly checking the validity of photos and articles. See below:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/romney/money.asp
Jane
I don't which the Republicans think is worse, being European or a socialist. Funny that they loved Tony Blair (European and nominally, at least, a socialist) so much a few years ago, then......
ReplyDeleteOMG this is driving me crazy. I had the youngest at the GP today. Ya know, for free and ya know, getting free meds. I said...'um, can i have a bit extra for her? we have to go to the US at the end of the month. I would hate for her to get sick over there.'
ReplyDeleteShe was probably offended. But I got my meds!
Please...I can't do four years over here with that baffoon in charge! NOOO!
Between Romney promising to AMEND the Constitution to ban gay marriage, and Ryan limiting women's reproductive rights, it might just be the impetus I need to get the family back to the UK.
ReplyDeleteThe extremely rightwing nature of US politics is hard enough work for a Brit, without all the Euro-bashing based on false "facts".
ReplyDeleteThe Romney and the Olympics thing was odd. He was focused entirely on his domestic (US) audience when he criticised the organisation of the Olympics. Then he seemed shocked when it didn't go down well in London, the place he was visiting at the time! Most peculiar!
I suspect that he'd be another blunderer like GWB if he got into power, although in his own unique style of course!
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ReplyDeleteha ha good one. Although at the mo it doesn't look like Romney has a snowball's chance in hell of getting in so I'm not gonna worry. Or SHOULD I worry ?? ;)
ReplyDeleteOooh, I wish I had your faith Emma.
ReplyDeleteIf Romney gets elected, at least we'll have a really good reason to laugh at the U.S. again.
ReplyDeleteAs an American who enjoys your blog(Chicago born), there are just enough people who hate Obama and would vote in a pet rock, to make me nervous. In addition to abortion and healthcare, now Romney is talking about cutting funding to Amtrak and PBS. Before GWB I would have said that Romney would never get elected but not now.
ReplyDeleteEven some of the seniors I know, talk about how government should stay out of Medicare and healthcare and how Obama hates capitalism and wants to turn us into a socialist state(though Sweden is pretty nice).
They will vote against their own interest just because they've heard that Obama is ___.
It's scary that he should be so naive about the rest of the world and be in charge of one of the most powerful nations on earth! But hey good to see he has focus even if it is very narrow....
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! I'm an American living in Europe and I get really tired of ignorant people back home who love to Euro-bash but have no idea what it's like over here.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested, I did a little "compare and contrast" on the EU and US situation and I don't think the US comes off very well.