I love my brother, but frequently dislike him

Chat transcript from today:

Brother: "Obama holds town hall meeting in France" -- What, is he president of the world, now?

Me: 1. The US president is frequently called "the leader of the free world" since WWII...so...sorta'. Yeah. We lead NATO (the most powerful military alliance in history) and our economy impacts everybody like no other economy does.

2. Bush couldn't speak except with prepared remarks and/or a pre-screened crowd (and even then, Bush couldn't talk intelligently). At least give Obama credit for taking whatever questions anybody has and attempting to answering them.

3. Bush fucked up our relationships with everybody else. Obama is trying to help fix that. Showing that he's listening and NOT being like Bush is important to repair the relationships that Bush broke.

Brother: Obama comes across as a stumbling wreck without a teleprompter

Me: You're so full of shit. On his worst day, we comes across better than Bush WITH a teleprompter.

Brother: I am not full of shit. O has more "uh"s per minute than any politician I've ever heard speak

He is a lousy extemporaneous speaker

Me: Again: you're full of shit. Want a highlight reel of Bush speaking?

Brother: You mean a reel taking the worst of the worst? Those exist for anyone

Me: Except you know as well as I do that the man is an idiot and always came off like an idiot.

Brother: Bush came off even dumber than he was

Me: You don't apply the same standards to Obama that you applied to Bush or McCain.

Brother: I don't like Bush.

Me: You're being intellectually dishonest. If Bush or McCain took extemporaneous questions, you wouldn't criticize them for it. Because Obama did it, you'll snark.

Brother: But that doesn't change the fact that Obama is an empty suit

Me: You don't like him. I get that. He's not my ideal president either, but stop calling him stupid or empty when you can't back it up. When you can specifically name actions or words of his that you can demonstrate are false or stupid, I'll listen. Until then, you're just blustering the unsupported distaste for him that you cultivate in the insular world of your gunny friends.

I'm done talking with you today.

You have blocked Brother. You can no longer see each other online or chat together until you unblock them.

On Not Being Canadian

When Liz and I have travelled in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands), we have frequently been mistaken for Canadians.

We did NOT sew the Canadian flag on our bags (which I'm told some American travellers have done) did not tell people we were Canadian. If anyone asked if we were Canadian, we admitted that we were not- but this happened so often that I suspect many more people assumed we were Canadian than mentioned it.

Why did they assume we were Canadian? I think it was because we strove to be very polite. We attempted at all times to communicate in the local language (failing frequently, but I believe the gesture of making the attempt is meaningfuul) and did not express frustration when others did not speak English. If someone asked my opinion of Dubya, I was ready to express my feelings in the local language (e.g. "j'déteste Bush!" in Paris).

Today, I'm a little less embarrassed to be an American. I'm a registered independent and not a huge fan of Obama's, but my fellow citizens did something right yesterday and elected the more reasonable, intelligent candidate.

Here's to President-Elect Obama: May he please give me reasons, when overseas, to be proud of my nationality. May he be successful in overcoming the massive challenges he faces. May he be successful in meeting the extraordinary expectations his adherents have for him.

Most of all, here's hoping that his team governs as well as they campaign.

What to Ask Palin (how to harm a campaign)

An acquaintence got tickets to a Sarah Palin rally and is asking friends what questions he should ask if he gets the chance. Here's what I suggest.

Ask her:

Governor Palin, are you concerned about the massive and growing bukakke trade imbalance between the U.S. and our trading partners in asia? What would you do to shore up the position of American producers of bukakke?

If she knows what bukakke is, she looks bad for knowing what it is.

If she DOESN'T know what it is, she'll express support for domestic bukakke production and look really bad for speaking in favor of the American pornography industry. Either way, it hurts her campaign.

:)