america adrift

Keith Olbermann talks with Sy Hersh of The New Yorker Magazine about the intensifying sabre rattling from the Bush administration toward Iran.

NEW YORK (AP) — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton was endorsed Saturday by retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who sought the party’s nomination in 2004 and whose sterling military credentials could bolster her bid to be the first female commander in chief.

Clark, the former supreme allied commander of NATO, praised the New York senator as “a remarkable person” with the skills and experience to be president.

“When two eminent US scholars wrote about the ‘Israel lobby’ they were vilified by colleagues and the Washington Post. This week Barack Obama joined the attack. Ed Pilkington hears their story”

Saturday September 15, 2007
The Guardian

WASHINGTON, DC, & BRUSSELS (September 6, 2007) - A survey released today shows that, despite new leaders in Great Britain, France, and Germany pledging to work with the United States, public expectations for a renewed transatlantic partnership continue to lag behind leaders’ rhetoric.

“Europeans overwhelmingly support Hillary Clinton in her bid to become the next US president, according to a poll published today.”

This pretty much falls right in line with what I’m hearing from the Danes. I haven’t done any formalized polling but everyone I’ve spoken with here in Denmark seems to support Hillary.

What I find most interesting is the Danish media coverage of the race. It’s completely presented in a binary format. Clinton v Obama, Democrats v Republicans, conservative v liberal, etc… Of course, the US media prays at the alter of “the two sided coin”. However, Danish, and European politics are multi-representational, multi-partied, multi-ideas affairs. That is also reflected in the European media.

Why does the European media follow the American binary media framing of American politics? Is this journalistic apathy which simply regurgitates dominant US media narratives? Do Europeans believe that America is somehow truly unique, representing the world’s only two-diminsional society.

Politically, Hillary Clinton falls somewhere slightly to the right of Denmark’s current “right” leaning ruling coalition. One would be hard pressed to find European support among the Republican field. However, if people had more information about the Democratic field, I doubt support for Hillary would be so strong.

Perhaps none of this matters. Europeans don’t vote in US elections.

As an American, the relatively open and objective coverage by the European media on European politics is both refreshing and encouraging. However, the short-sided and narrow portrayal of US politics from the main stream European media is most puzzling.

What gives?

Terrorized by ‘War on Terror’

by Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter

“To justify the ‘war on terror,’ the administration has lately crafted a false historical narrative that could even become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“The culture of fear is like a genie that has been let out of its bottle. It acquires a life of its own — and can become demoralizing. America today is not the self-confident and determined nation…”

Might this be the mood that we have been discussing in relation to post 9/11 American Fiction?