Link TV | DAV Blog

Welcome to the DAV Blog, where we discuss the important issues as they unfold. Write a comment or short post and send it to us at davsubmissions{at}linktv.org and we might feature it in a post!

The DAV Blogger is struggling to focus after a late night of celebration, so we’ll keep this short and to the point.

Barack Hussein Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States, and there is no shortage today of news pieces covering the global reaction. The Caucus blog at the New York Times depicts scenes of jubilation in New Delhi, Buenos Aires, and Kisumu, Kenya, where Obama’s father was born. In its leading piece, LeMonde declares "the hope of a new era in relations between the US and the rest of the planet, after 8 years of the Bush administration…" Der Spiegel proclaims "Obama awakes a new America."

At National Public Radio, Wendi Thomas happily hammers the nail in the coffin of the "Bradley effect," which simply did not come to pass in the presidential election results. Link TV’s Global Pulse examines this story in greater detail in their weekly episode to be released tomorrow.

A few notes of skepticism remain. At Outlook India for instance, Vinay Lal cautions that particularly in the realm of foreign affairs, "To believe that Obama’s election as the President of the United States represents an end to the global nightmare of the American dream, one needs to hope against hope."

But perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Here at Dear American Voter, we ARE hopeful at the prospects for improved global dialogue regarding politics. Your videos, photos, and stories over the past year have been a wonderful step in this direction. Thank you for sharing your voices and do keep an eye out for future ways to stay engaged here at Link TV.

-Posted November 5, 2008 by DAV Blogger

A win for Obama? -6 days 'til election

Less than a week left and all signs in the polls point to a coming victory for the Democrats.

The blogosphere in particular is abuzz with love letters to Obama. At Voices Without Votes, Amira al-Hussaini’s “Sing Along to the White House” compiles festive video clips from Ghana, Japan, and Germany in praise of the potential first black president.

Several bloggers see Obama pride among the Caribbean diaspora. At baiganchoka, a Guyanese-American writer tells us that on Election Day, ”I’ll take my sons with me to the voting station so they can tell their children and grandchildren (if they are so blessed) that they witnessed one vote that may have counted towards the moment.” bC at the Jamaican blog Stories of Me writes that “I dare you to find a McCain supporter” in Jamaica.

In fact, we have had a rather difficult time finding McCain supporters online anywhere outside of the US. The best we could track down this week was a round-up of Portuguese bloggers at Voices Without Votes, two of whom express skepticism of Obama’s democratic impulses (though stopping short of declaring outright support for the Republican ticket).

At Dear American Voter, several of our recent contributors have also hinted at a groundswell of Obama support in their home countries. One reporter from Kazakhstan for instance claims that “most Kazakh people sympathize with Democrats, with Obama.”

Also at Link TV, the latest episode of Latin Pulse examines “US elections and the Voto Latino,” depicting a complex picture of voting allegiances among US Latinos though with signs that a significant majority of Latinos will side with Obama in the coming week.

What are your final thoughts on the election? Please do let us know in these final days.

-Posted October 29, 2008 by DAV Blogger

One week to go, and we continue to see an exodus of conservative figures from the McCain-Palin ticket. Last week, Colin Powell made a high-profile endorsement of Barack Obama. Today, Anne Applebaum explains at Slate why John McCain is no Margaret Thatcher and therefore unworthy of her right-wing affections.

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel has a combative interview with neo-conservative Robert Kagan, who owns up to Bush-era mistakes while advising Europeans to “go ahead and let your heart beat for Obama; but use your head to choose McCain.” Europeans, like much of the rest of the world, continue to express enthusiasm for an Obama presidency while thinking little of a President McCain. One poll by a French TV station this week pegged McCain’s support in France at 1 percent.

In Chile, new reports of a secret meeting in 1985 between John McCain and venerable dictator Augusto Pinochet have set off critical fire in the Latin American blogosphere, while raising new questions in the US regarding McCain’s resolve to stand up to current-day strongmen like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Elsewhere, the global press is reporting on excitement among non-US black Westerners regarding a potential Obama victory. The Toronto Star speaks to black Canadians thrilled at the prospect of a black US president, including one woman who states that “I wish I were American, just for one day, so I could vote for Obama.” Reuters chronicles the hopes of blacks in the UK and France, many of whom see a President Obama as a critical counterpoint to the “woefully bad” representation of blacks in top government posts on their side of the Atlantic.

Finally, at Dear American Voter, several more Indian contributors speak of their optimism that Obama’s heritage and race will benefit future global relations. What are your final thoughts on the election? Let us know here.

-Posted October 28, 2008 by DAV Blogger

Maybe so, if we believe the results of a self-reported poll of international voters by the Economist that depicts a blue landslide nearly everywhere across the globe.

Everywhere but….Albania? PostGlobal features a piece claiming that John McCain may edge out Barack Obama for support in this Balkan outpost due to McCain’s (and Bush’s) suport for independence in Albanian-majority Kosovo. Affinity for U.S. military action may buoy McCain in other political hotspots like Georgia, where NATO support in a war with Russia is considered more likely in a GOP administration, and Cuba, where revolution-era exiles continue to heavily back Republican candidates. In both countries, the Economist narrowly tips the scales to McCain.

Elsewhere, we find plenty of anger over the current economic crisis and a fair amount of hope that a President Obama will chart a new, more equitable course. Outlook India columnist Rajinder Puri rather skeptically reports on economist Amartya Sen’s prediction that Obama’s election will renew confidence in world financial markets.

Several of this week’s contributors to Dear American Voter from India also sense that Democratic economic policies will help end the current “bloodbath” among investors:

But at Der Spiegel, blogger Peter Ross Range worries that “a brilliantly successful campaign can still become a failed presidency,” comparing a potential Obama administration with Jimmy Carter and second-term LBJ and Nixon. At the same time, he alternates his concern with an invocation of Colin Powell’s declaration this week that an Obama election could prove “transformational.”

Are world observers correct in seeing positive change in an Obama administration? Let us know your thoughts here at DAV.

-Posted October 22, 2008 by DAV Blogger

Are youth voters reliable? -15 days 'til election

Will polls showing a landslide lead for Obama among young voters hold up on Election Day?

Gallup addresses the question by introducing a “traditional” and “expanded” set of daily polls. In the ”traditional” scenario, registered voters that historically have stayed home on Election Day, including many young voters, are minimized in the polls’ ”likely voter” model. In the “expanded” scenario, the model is more sensitive to cell phone respondents and counts upon historically unreliable voters to show up in unprecedented numbers, likely tipping the scales to an Obama Moment.

On the left, we find no shortage of writers craving an avalanche of youth ballots. The Nation points to voter registration statistics from Virginia where 42% of new voter registrants are under 25, as a potent sign of youth electoral influence. We also learn that though the US Census Bureau recorded a tepid 49% voter participation rate for young voters in 2004, 81% of all registered young voters made it to the polls. These numbers may alleviate anxieties that registered young voters will not turn up to vote.

Not surprisingly, both the Democratic and Republican parties have intensively targeted young voters for registration this year. Al Jazeera English and The Guardian have interviews with young voters in battleground states like Virginia that indicate heightened enthusiasm for Election 2008.

And recent electoral history may point to a global resurgence of youth vote prowess. Analysts of Spanish politics for instance credit young voters with sealing surprise Socialist Party victories in 2004 and 2008. In Spain as elsewhere, voters under 30 are more likely to respond to new technology like Facebook and text messaging that facilitates political organization.

Many of our participants in a recent Seesmic conversation on the youth vote felt that 2008 might be the electoral year of the young. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts at Dear American Voter.

-Posted October 20, 2008 by DAV Blogger

Could Latino voters be decisive in next month’s election?

The Obama and McCain campaigns appear to think so, as evidenced by stepped-up drives to register Latino voters in states like Nevada and Florida.

Similarly, the two candidates made special mention of Latin American policy at Wednesday night’s debate . Obama’s call for increased protection of labor leaders in Colombia may play well with Latinos accustomed to a more repressive US role in Latin America. Likewise, McCain’s criticism of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez could help soothe the right-wing anxieties of Cuban-American voters in Florida.

At the same time, a new PBS documentary proposes that the concept of ”Latino voters” may in fact be less uniform — and politically crucial – than many politicians and journalists claim. How after all, can a campaign craft a coherent message to appeal to both first and second-generation immigrants, voters of Mexican and Cuban descent, and residents of New Jersey and New Mexico?

A further difficulty in appealing to Latino voters may be the continued erosion of US public image in Latin America, where CIA and US military cooperation with repressive regimes remain potent symbols for residents, and for many recent emigrants to the US. Last month’s expulsion of US ambassadors from Bolivia and Venezuela, chronicled by Link TV’s Latin Pulse and PostGlobal’s Global Power Barometer, may only deepen distrust of US intentions regardless of whether a President Obama or President McCain takes charge.

Are Latino voters in fact crucial to the election? Let us know your perspective here at Dear American Voter.

-Posted October 17, 2008 by DAV Blogger

Can Barack Hussein Obama engage the Middle East? -20 days 'til election

Does Barack Obama have special concern for Muslim and Arab world interests?

If broadcasts from this week’s McCain-Palin rallies are any indication, a sizeable number of Americans say yes. In fact, rumors that Obama is Muslim or Arab have swirled since the early days of his candidacy. These rumors imply that Arabs and Muslims — and Obama — are un-American at best and a terror threat at worst.

But can we count upon a President Obama to actually favor positive ties with Muslims and Arabs? If the results of a recent Pew Global Attitudes survey are to be believed, the answer may be no. While Obama is far more popular than McCain in most world regions, perceptions of the two candidates are far less divided in much of the Middle East. There, Obama like McCain is viewed skeptically by a majority of survey respondents in Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan. In Pakistan, Obama’s 10% confidence figure reflects a dismal conception of American power no matter the leader.

And what new challenges might lie in store for a President Obama in engaging the Middle East? Jamal Dajani speculates at Huffington Post that economic meltdown in the Gulf States could lead to a worsening of poverty and unemployment in countries like Egypt, where many families depend upon work in the oil-rich Gulf. And as daily hardship increases, the appeal of political extremism to young unemployed Arab youths could also rise, further hardening skeptical views of American leadership — and a President Obama.

Is Barack Obama uniquely placed to engage the Middle East? Our Dear American Voter participants from the Middle East hope to see change from American leaders regardless of who becomes president. What do you think? Let us know here.

-Posted October 15, 2008 by DAV Blogger

Obama is rising in the polls, but could we still be surprised by the effects of racism on November 4th?

Several bloggers quoted at Voices Without Votes think so, pointing to heated McCain-Palin rallies this week as evidence. "This should be remembered as the day when McCain and Palin became just two sad, racist, xenophobic, idiotic criminals" writes a Bosnian-American blogger regarding a Palin rally this week where audience cries of "terrorist" and "kill him!" were made in reference to Obama.

Lorraine de Foucher at LeMonde suggests a more subtle point in her article, "Latent racism could cost Barack Obama dearly." She notes a Stanford University study conducted last month in which 40% of white Americans were willing to define black people using a negative adjective like violent, lazy, or irresponsible. And the article proposes the potential role of the "Bradley Effect," the theory that white voters will not admit to pollsters their unwillingness to vote for black candidates.

Chalmers Johnson has a fascinating piece in Outlook India, where he notes the "Karl Rove-trained Republican Party has been hard at work disenfranchising black voters" through new laws requiring ID cards at the polls, making voter registration difficult for those who have been in prison, and through imprisonment itself. He concludes that "while the crisis caused by the performance failures of the incumbent party seems to guarantee a realigning election favoring the Democrats, it is simply impossible to determine the degree to which race and regionalism may sway voters."

Many of our Seesmic participants also feel that racism and xenophobia will affect the election results. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts at Dear American Voter.

-Posted October 10, 2008 by DAV Blogger

Monday's New York Times led with the gloomy assessment that three days after US approval of a $700 billion bailout plan, "it looks like a pebble tossed into a churning sea."

Several days of world market plunges later, a consensus is emerging that Wall Street's pain is spreading far and wide. Pierre-Antoine Delhommais at LeMonde finds consolation in today's interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and several other state banking agencies. At least, the coordinated move demonstrates "there is a pilot in the plane."

But David Crossland at Der Spiegel is less sanguine. He writes that the European Central Bank's actions "risk being undermined by the chaotic, confused response of EU governments." He notes for instance the failure of economic officials from Germany, France, Britain, and Italy to reach substantive agreements at a mini-summit in Paris last weekend as proof of Europe's unique cooperation challenge.

The glum news for Europe continues in yesterday's IMF report predicting a global economic slowdown in 2009. The UK Guardian writes that "lax macroeconomic and regulatory policies" particularly in the housing market are to blame for a predicted UK recession. Spain's El Pais laments Spain's inclusion with Italy, Ireland, and Iceland as Europe's most troubled economies.

Meanwhile, Wu Zhong at Asia Times reports a calmer economic outlook for China. China's financial system "remains pretty much closed by the standards of a free economy" and that the country will be less impacted by the liquidity crisis rocking much of the US and Europe. Zhong points to high Chinese savings rates, and consequent investment in US Treasury bonds, as important protective factors.

Do you believe we will all suffer economic pain? Or will some world regions be better protected than others? Tell us what you think here at Dear American Voter.

Will Sarah Palin’s folksy reminder to “drill, baby, drill” in last night’s VP debate soon assume a new form?

Google CEO Eric Schmidt would like us to think so, with the release this week of his firm’s $4 trillion proposal to shift US energy use to renewable fuels by 2030. Google’s plan calls for “drilling,” but not for offshore or other domestic oil sources. Rather, the plan calls for major investment in geothermal, solar, and wind power, which “could generate billions of dollars in savings and help create millions of jobs.”

Several international media outlets, such as the London Times and India’s IT Examiner, note that Schmidt is a business consultant to Obama’s campaign and that the Google plan might be a sneak preview of what to expect in an Obama administration. The Wall Street Journal meanwhile muses that “the economy needs power that runs 24 hours a day, rain wind or shine,” and that coal and nuclear energy are tried-and-true sources of consistency.

So can Google, and the US, lead the shift from high-carbon to renewable energy? How will this affect climate change? Check out what our Dear American Voter participants are saying and let us know your thoughts.

Peering into its crystal ball today, the German newspaper Der Spiegel sees "The End of Arrogance: America Loses Its Dominant Economic Role."

The article reveals a tinge of schadenfreude expressed by global leaders, diplomats, and journalists convened at last week's UN General Assembly meeting over the current US crisis. The US has played the bully for too long, the sentiment goes.

But more pressingly, there is an omnipresent fear that as Wall Street fails, so does much of the world. As Der Spiegel reports, "The financial storm has even been felt in the most unexpected of places, such as the offices of German town halls." In recent years, small German cities like Bochum and Wuppertal have leased entire sewage systems and municipal transport to US investors, who in turn insured the leases with AIG. AIG's recent near-collapse has downgraded its industry credit rating — and forced cities like Bochum and Wuppertal to scramble for scarce collateral.

On the left, Naomi Klein fears the current debt crisis and proposed bailout will become "the excuse to privatize social security, lower corporate taxes, and cut spending on the poor." In the face of these pressures, she calls for "loud organized pressure on all political parties" inspired in part by recent examples beyond American borders.

The US bailout also has its foes on the right. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama opined that the bailout would put the US down the road of *gasp* France. Perhaps he has read yesterday's LeMonde article that convened six French and American economists to consider the "end of Anglo-Saxon finance capitalism." One of their more salient predictions is the "relative decline of developed countries - notably the United States - and the acceleration of the transition to a multipolar and heterogenous world."

So, has America lost its power? Many of our Seesmic participants think so. Tell us - and American voters - what you think at Dear American Voter.

In less than six weeks the American people will be casting their votes for their next President. The 2008 Election Campaign has proven to be one of the most historically important, with regard to both gender and race. There has been an incredible amount of interest in the 2008 election campaign, not only for the American voters, but also for the people outside America who are inevitably affected, directly or indirectly, by US policies.

The particular significance this election plays in so many peoples’ lives is the undeniably unstable and uncertain nature of the realities we are confronted with, both in America and across the rest of the world. Just a few examples of these issues may include: the collapsing economies, the continuously rising cost of living, increasing unemployment rates, loss of homes, the lack of availability of adequate healthcare and even food, the numerous humanitarian disasters both environmental and/or man-induced and of course the constant threat of war that people from many nations are warned about, regardless of how real or likely these threats are in actuality or not.

The outcome of this election is likely to determine to a great extent what path will be taken to tackle these issues and in what manner the US will interact with the international community, with particular concern on the Middle East, Iran and Russia. However, the outcome of the election is beyond the control of the international community who are anxiously awaiting a decision.

In light of this, I thought it would be appropriate to address the Dear American Voter discussions on what I, someone living in both Europe and the Middle East, is concerned about when it comes to the election of the next president of the USA. MideastYouth has previously posted on the Dear American Voter initiative, a project developed by Link TV that aims at getting the international communities voices heard within America.

    Dear American Voter,

    I recently returned to the UK from Syria, where I went to visit my parents who have now retired there. It is truly one of the most beautiful countries I have ever encountered, although undoubtedly it has its flaws and weaknesses. Apart from a number of cultural differences, what I realised most of all was the fundamentally universal nature of being human, the striving to simply live. Waking up every morning, earning money, consuming, loving your family, socialising with friends, trying everything in your power to make ends meet while at the same time attempting to enjoy and make the most of the short, temporary and precious life we each have been given.

    It is difficult, amongst the welter of distracting images that obscure contexts and omit the real faces of people and places, to think of an ‘other’ as anything more than that. Instead Dear American Voter, I ask you to put a face on the victims of the US Government, because they are no different from you. We may pray differently, but we do not love differently and we do not suffer differently.

    I ask you to question your government’s actions, to review the stories we have all been told, to uncover all the contradictions, identify the rhetoric and unearth the truth. It is clear to us and to you Dear American Voter that we have all lost and suffered enough at the hands of our governments. Your troops that have been able to return home, have unfortunately not been greeted by your government as heroes and patriots, instead they have been deprived of adequate medical care and have been refused financial assistance with their education. It would appear to me that the current US government perceives us all as faceless.

    If we are to ever live in a truly globalised world, it is fundamental that each nation is able to remain independent and indigenous while at the same time being open to dialogue and negotiation. If this is our aim, to be able to work as a cosmopolitan world to tackle the issues we face such as environmental issues, poverty, etc. then we need the leader of the Worlds’ Super Power to lead us towards this instead of a possible war with Iran or maybe even Russia?!

    America should be the greatest country in the world. Unfortunately it falls short. And both you and I, Dear American Voter, are the ones that bear the brunt of its shortcomings. You are suffering now, but instead it is the major corporations that are being bailed out with your tax money. In my opinion one of the biggest scams in history.

    I suffer everyday wondering if Syria, my parents, my family, will be the next on America’s list. Unfortunately the decision for who will be the next president of America is out of my hands. However you have the power Dear American Voter, the power to allow for change to occur, the power to decide whether your country continues along the same terminal path or instead if your country is once again admired and looked to as a source of inspiration.

    I await your decision in anticipation.

I urge anyone else who feels strongly about the direction our world is going in but who does not have the opportunity to vote in this upcoming election to express their thoughts and concerns to our Dear American Voters, while there is still ‘hope’ for ‘change’.

Global advice for a US bailout? - 39 days 'til election

What might residents of non-U.S. countries, particularly those with recent experience of financial crisis and state regulation, advise Americans to expect?

According to the New York Times, Swedish citizens with experience of a 1992 crisis might offer a few words of wisdom. "Sweden did not just bail out its financial institutions by having the government take over bad debts. It extracted pounds of flesh from bank shareholders before writing checks." The result: the state profited from the turnaround of once-failing banks, leaving taxpayers themselves with a sizeable share of the profits.

At PostGlobal, conservative columnist Kin-ming Liu draws a parallel with Hong Kong's $15 billion state intervention in 1998 in the local stock markets. The resulting success "has now provided a strong case for intervention" in a finance community considered to be even less regulated than Wall Street.

But is it realistic to compare the experience of small polities like Sweden and Hong Kong with Wall Street's proposed $700 billion lifeline? Iranian investment director Ali Ettefagh speculates that the US of 2008, deeply in debt to developing nations like China and Saudi Arabia, could face a more ominous bailout scenario. "The trillion dollar sticker price might well be the opening flutter in a poker game - where the deck is rigidly stacked against the ordinary citizen as the U.S. dollar will massively devalue."

Do U.S. citizens stand to lose their economic power in a post-bailout global order? Or will a soft landing, like in Sweden and Hong Kong in the 1990s, be the more likely result? Tell us what you think! Join in the community of voices at Dear American Voter.

If we were in New York yesterday as a fly on the wall at the UN General Assembly meeting, we might declare yes.

The financial crisis “has moved like a tsunami around the globe,” claimed Filipino President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, “wiping away gains, erasing progress not just here in Manhattan Island, but also in the many islands of the Philippines.” She pointed to “high prices of food, fuel, and rice” as proof of a looming global collapse.

Other leaders like Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner struck a similar note of pessimism, declaring Wall Street a “casino economy” and warned that “money alone does not produce more money.” France’s Nicolas Sarkozy zeroed in on lenders, envisioning a system in which “credit agencies are controlled and punished when necessary, where transparency…replaces opaqueness.”

Our Global Pulse series this week portrays similar international voices of concern:

And at Dear American Voter, we've encountered conflicting views on the ongoing crisis.

Could Wall Street’s woes in fact usher in a new era of global interdependence? The Gulf Daily News reports for instance that several Japanese firms could see their influence grow in a less Wall Street-centric (post-Wall Street anyone?) world. Insiders buzz that troubled firms like Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs will have little choice but to assume a more global portfolio - and power structure.

Does Wall Street collapse mean global collapse? Tell us what you think! Make your voice heard through Dear American Voter.

Attention is still on Wall Street, but with the government loaning billions of dollars to private financial institutions, questions must be asked. Are the bailouts meant to help the citizens, or are they meant to help the financial organizations? Who is the government prioritizing?

Watch the discussion on Seesmic, and if you have a webcam, please share your opinion!

This week, all eyes are on Wall Street and the meltdown of venerable American finance houses AIG and Lehman Brothers. The political world may be abuzz with what exactly John McCain meant when he declared Monday, "the fundamentals of our economy are strong," but here at DAV, we take up the larger question of government's role in the economy.

International voices weighing in on this week's Wall Street crisis include the Strong Conservative from Ontario, Canada, who strikes a Gordon Gecko note in claiming that "it is government and ineffective regulation that is truly the culprit in this financial dilemma." The UK-based Kanishk Tharoor, writing at openUSA, sees an opening for the presidential campaign to return to substance and issues, which he claims favor the Democrats.

Should more regulation be the rule of the day?

Take a closer look at what our DAV participants have been saying about the American economy.

According to Brent Phillips, a delegate from Orange County, California interviewed at the Republican National Convention, our current economic woes have an outdated tax system to blame. He favors a “flatter” tax, in which all Americans pay taxes at a similar rate:

Tess, a student from San Francisco, counters that jobs creation should be the economic order of the day:

And earlier this year, a Kenyan citizen asked voters to consider the American economy as part of a global economy in which foreign aid plays a critical role:

Will the global economy suffer as the US economy heads south? Tell us what you think! Check out the ways in which you can participate.

We've been working with The Women's International Perspective (The WIP) to get some hard-to-find opinions about American policy. The WIP is a comprehensive news website that reports world news, opinion, and commentary from the unique perspectives of women; these letters come from women in Bahrain:

"Bahrain like other parts of the world, has been affected by the unjust foreign policies of Bush administration, so I hope Americans will vote for a President who can undo some of the damage the world has sustained because of the war on terror. My Middle East should be left alone to deal with its own affairs and reach a fair peace deal between Arab countries and Israel. I want a stable and secure Iraq and more rights for Palestinians to lead ordinary lives. I feel my children have the right to live in a secure region; I don't want them to have to see photographs of massacred children from Iraq and many other parts of the world in newspapers and on TV.

I call upon American voters to choose a presidential candidate that will take them away from wars and international conflicts. The American people need a president that will help improve their living standards and push for development. Poverty should be tackled in America rather than engaging in endless wars across its borders. Americans should remember that the candidate they are going to select will affect nations all over the globe.

The next US President should be more flexible in his internal and foreign policies, adopting a more tolerant and just approach to dealing with issues concerning his or other nations. Voters should go for a candidate with less hard-lined slogans, who has the abilities and desire to address social issues rather than focusing only on politics. Voters should be more responsible and realize that the future of the world is in their hands as the next US President could end the worldwide chaos and instabilities in many countries. The candidates have to be more sensible in addressing sensitive issues; Barack Obama's remark declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel generated objections in the Arab world. We are hoping for a president who doesn't interfere in the Middle East and its affairs. We have had enough of the complications in the region because of such interferences.

American voters should choose their candidates without being influenced by anyone and feel the freedom to select the right one. I urge them to choose a candidate according to his manifesto rather than his race or color. I urge them to choose a candidate that has the ability to avoid and solve the mistakes of the Bush administration. We want a US president that is dedicated to promoting just and fair global peace, rather than dragging us to more wars and misery. Voters should keep in mind that their decision will affect me and other people as America is a worldwide power.

Women's Activist and member of the Bahrain Women Development Association (Bahrain)

Blog Links

Partners

Photos

Seesmic Conversations

Submission Details