Mid Terminators
THE Democrats have won control of the House of Representatives. Hurrah! Boo!
It’d hard to know what to make of it. Not that the Times can make much of anything, it having gone to print before the results of the US mid-term elections were known.
The paper does, however, note that President George Bush (Republican) voted at sunrise in Texas. Whether or not the sun rose with Bush or Bush rose with the sun is not investigated. But such is the pull of the most powerful man on Earth that his waking moments are of international concern.
Personalities have a big part to play in an election. And while the various Buds, Brads and Nancys vie for political power, the Guardian focuses on Arnie.
He, of course, is Arnold Schwarzenegger, undeniably the most famous Austrian-born politician since Adolph Hitler.
The votes in California have been counted. And the result is that Arnie has won almost twice as many votes as Democrat Phil Angelides. According to the paper, exit polls show Mr Schwarzenegger winning 62% of the vote to 34% for Angelides.
"I love doing sequels," Schwarzenegger tells his supporters in Beverly Hills. "This without any doubt is my favourite sequel."
Such film-themed stuff makes Schwarzenegger a popular figure in California, where Ronald Reagan and Clint Eastwood have held office.
But the mid-terms are not just a time for showmanship. They are a comment on President Bush. As the Independent’s front page says, the headline illustrated by a picture of the President standing beneath an umbrella in the rain: “America’s damning verdict on Bush.”
Yes, this is the President Bush who has been voted in as the country’s leader not once but twice. And the argument that his Republican party’s loss of the House of Representatives and potential loss of the Senate is all down to him is debatable, wishful even.
“Voters punish president for Iraq campaign,” says the Indy’s front page elsewhere.
“Democrats rode to victory on a powerful wave of public anger over the war in Iraq and scandal at home,” says the Indy, at least recognising that for all the talk of Bush as leader of the free world, he is primarily the President of the United States, a country with problems of its own…
Posted: 8th, November 2006 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
