The past week in politics. American Election dominates the news
A Condensed Catch; Simon Davies takes stock of (and in some cases aim at) the past week in politics. This week of course it was the American Election that dominated.
'Yes We Can'
Over the summer I was staying with friends in Philadelphia and the us election coverage was scary. Plain scary. Obama’s face plastered in shop windows, peoples cars, in one case on a tub of ice cream I was buying. I’m not even joking.
That’s not to say Obama won’t be good for America. After the event I was chatting to Tom at Catch21 HQ and he said you can’t underestimate the ‘Redknapp effect’ he will have. Initially I thought how incredible it was that the delightful Harry Redknapp was making his mark in a debate on international politics, but Tom indeed has hit the nail on it’s head. As Tottenham have now found themselves winning, the US are right to feel like winners this week after eight years of a divisive Presidency. Anyone regardless of political colours can agree with that.
Progession
The initial reaction to Obama's election was rightly based around the historic nature of his racial victory. Rightly so. It moved me to watch Jesse Jackson brought to tears in Grant Park. My mind was with all those who marched with Dr. King in places like Birmingham Alabama in the 60’s while he was arrested and the crowds had dogs set upon them like vermin, but with a new day must come a clear head. This Presidency will be a success if Obama builds his proposed progressive platform. He was not elected along racial lines, the modern marvel of him being elected the young in the country is more symbolic for what has to be done now domestically and internationally for the US's future.
No, HE’S MINE!
A sad fact of the American election is that it makes our Political system looks so flat, boring, old fashioned and if I’m being honest – lame. However, this is not true. There is much to be said for a system which rejects Hollywood style speech writing and inherent cross party cooperation that has to exist no matter what because of our Parliamentary system.
However…
As we were setting up for filming 'The House' last Wednesday, what was going on down the corridor in the Commons was quite remarkable. As all three Party Leaders praised Obama’s campaign, they all seemed not to lay claim to sharing his vision for the future but to being the standard bearer of achieving policies that Obama hopes to implement!
E-Democracy Rules All... sooner than we think.
Recently Catch21's Alex, Onyeka and James headed to Madrid to cover an important conference on the future of democracy in the age of internet and new technology. This will be the quiet but largest revolution of our generation. Again, referring to events in America this week, it would not have happened without the internet being used to organise small groups of supporters offering small donations that led to the Obama campaign getting a national footing in the first place. In terms of restoring trust in the government, e-democracy techniques could also prove essential in the way politicians engage with the younger generations. In the long run lets also hope online electoral voting will vastly increase the amount of people who even bother to vote.
Oh, and there was a By-Election here.
ELECTION FEVER! In Scotland too. As I write this, votes are being counted in Glenrothes where Labour desperately need to uphold the seat and a majority of over 10,000 if they have any chance of – statistically at least – of winning over the country as a whole in a year or twos time. My gut instinct is that due to the amount of people they’ve had on the ground in the last week pushing the electorate and the fact that the current holder of the seat died in office holding a huge majority, is that they will indeed win the day but with a decreased majority. Time will tell and I will have more of a break down of the result next week.
Have a good week, keep an eye on the news and spread the word about catch21.co.uk
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