[The Telegraph, U.K.]

 

 

Libération, France

McCain, Obama and America's 'Exception'

 

"John McCain, with a surname out of the Wild West, embodies this exceptionalism … Sarah Palin, with her crass and assertive ignorance, represents the extreme version of this learning-disabled America - without a passport and alone in the world."

 

By François Sergent

 

Translated By Sandrine Ageorges

 

September 27, 2008

 

France - Libération - Original Article (English)

In a very lucid article in The New York Times, Roger Cohen wondered about American exceptionalism . This messianic idea, so annoying to outsiders, according to which the United States is above all nations, a beacon on a hill and a model for the world. Different from the rest of the developed world, in regard to its position on guns, religion, capital punishment, and even now, the Almighty market.

 

John McCain, with a surname out of the Wild West, embodies this exceptionalism, which so appeals to Republicans, but if one believes the polls - also half of America. Sarah Palin, with her crass and assertive ignorance, represents the extreme version of this learning-disabled America - without a passport and alone in the world. On global markets and in the real-world economy, one now measures the consequences of this hegemony without reference to that uncontested ideology.

 

It's up to Obama to offer a new image and a new direction to this country in crisis. The young Senator, as opposed to McCain, always placed the economy at the center of his very long campaign, and never denied the role of government. He instantly assessed the gravity of the economic crisis. And these last few days, he managed to avoid the eccentricity and bizarre behavior of his opponent, ready to scuttle the Paulson plan for political advantage.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

McCain wanted voters to make their minds on the basis of the character and personality of the candidates. Between Palin and his own reaction to the Wall Street crisis, they now can judge.

 

 

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US September 27, 3:30pm]