(no subject) [Matthew's Journal]

You're viewing

emperor's journal
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: site light

←

→

Apologies if you're sick of politics already this morning. I'm gently amused to note how many of the brits on my fiends list seem to have stayed up until 4.30 or so in the morning when it became clear Obama won. I hope you all have the morning off or something ;-)

At the moment, I am very much reminded of the mood here in 1997 when Tony Blair became PM - I just hope Barack Obama isn't so much of a let-down...

←

→

There are 31 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Yes, that thought had occurred to me too. Fingers crossed...

I managed a couple of hours sleep and I've just dragged my butt out of bed. I should be going to work right now!

Apologies if you're sick of politics already this morning

Apology accepted ;-)

I stayed up until 2am and, oops, forgot to set my alarm. Hence I've only just got up. (You can see that checking my LJ flist is higher up the priorities than, say, actually rushing to the office, ahem...) Best get on the road!

Heh, no, but I decided to go to the 10am practical instead of my official 9am one... :p

I am reminded of Ukraine, being too young to remember the 97 election, but yes.

being too young to remember the 97 election

must.. resist.. antiageist.. comment..

[link] [parent] [reply]

I feared doom and despair in 1997 and was pleasantly surprised when the country failed to go to hell in a handbasket. (Granted, it went to war in one or two.)

I predict that anyone hoping an Obama presidency will be a revolutionary break from what came before will be disappointed.

(S)

Obama himself reminds me a lot of Blair. Both have the ability to say things that mean absolutely nothing but that people read in whatever way pleases them.

I stayed up until Ohio was called for him, at which point the result was sufficiently obvious. I think that was something past two.

AOL.

NB: You look curiously like me. But with a hat.

Me.

[link] [parent] [reply]

I did the same, but only when the BBC called Ohio. I rejected Fox News calls of Ohio (as did the BBC), much to the apparent incredulity of the American panelist :)

[link] [parent] [reply]

Obviously. I liked the way that Jim Naughtie described it as a "Careful, serious, BBC prediction" or words to that effect.

[link] [parent] [reply]

Yes. All this talk of 'on the cusp of change' and 'historical moment' just makes me tired.

I stayed up till Obama's acceptance speech and am now at work, almost on time, in body if not in brain ;-)

Despite the possibility that Obama will be a disappointment in the style of Blair and Clinton, he is still better than the alternative: the Republicans needed to be taught a lesson about the meanness and control through fear-mongering that have characterised the party under Bush, and while they remained in power this would never happen. Also, I believe that the bare fact that Obama won will bring about some much needed change in the States and even perhaps in the world - witness the scenes of joy from Kenya and the high turn-out.

This.

Although I thought McCain's concession speech was an excellent effort. If his policies on certain things weren't so diametrically opposed to my own, I might have quite liked him.

[link] [parent] [reply]

Some of us were working. I turned off the TV when it hit children's programmes, since it was annoying and distracting me from debugging...

I stayed up. It felt Historic, so I wanted to be there.

Personally, Tony Blair filled me with dread from the outset as a shallow, deceitful, manipulative votemonger. I remember my sense of dread as he swept to power and my feeling that UK politics had become somewhat unhinged in the run-up to 2000-01-01.

I don't have that feeling about Obama. His speech last night sounded direct and sincere. I hope this means he is a statesman of true greatness who will bring worthwhile change to the entire world.

I know McCain's supporters must feel now the way I did when Blair won, so I have a certain amount of sympathy with them, especially as McCain himself seems as decent a sort as one could hope for in a Republican. I hope they're wrong; I hope Obama isn't just a better actor than Blair.

Time will tell.

And even if he is a corrupt sleazeball, he's still a valuable proof of concept in one important respect.

Am I the only person who thinks Blair did a pretty decent job?

Yes. Apart from Tony Blair.

[link] [parent] [reply]

No. He got a lot of things wrong, but he did get quite a few right. *points to

mistdog's comment below*

Compared to what had gone before I felt a great relief.

[link] [parent] [reply]

Except for the war, I've no strong feelings either way re Blair. I like Gordon Brown. I think I'm the only person in the world that does :)

[link] [parent] [reply]

I don't feel very let down by Tony Blair. Under his leadership we got a national minimum wage, the human rights act, the civil partnerships act, the freedom of information act, the health service saved from market forces and interest rates freed from political meddling. All handguns were banned as well as killing foxes with dogs. Scotland and Wales got assemblies and Northern Ireland got the Good Friday agreement. Crime, unemployment and homelessness were all reduced along with interest rates and inflation.

Nobody expects Obama's version of "change" to be anywhere near so radical.

And yet you go and join one war, and that's all they remember...

[link] [parent] [reply]

I think that Blair in 1997 was better than another term of the Conservatives. We got lots of good stuff, I could add the gender recognition act and a change in the laws to a presumption of non-consent to sex (before that sex with an unconcious person wasn't technically rape).

I think the reason people feel so badly about Blair is because almost all of the things you've listed were achieved in their first term in office. More recently we've had the war in Iraq, making political capital out of killing asylum seekers and countless attempts to claw back the civil liberties granted during their first term and then some.

[link] [parent] [reply]

before that sex with an unconscious person wasn't technically rape

That's not really true. Under the previous law, no formal presumption existed, but you would still have been hard pressed to convince a jury that an unconscious person was nevertheless consenting. The more significant change was the requirement that a belief in consent be reasonable in order to be a defence.

[link] [parent] [reply]

But apart from that, what's Blair ever done for us?

[link] [parent] [reply]

Yeah, the first term was where all the good stuff was, then they stopped listening.

Interestingly, the implementation is where it's often gone wrong. Handgun deaths in the UK have risen. The foxhunting ban has been a token gesture and isn't enforced. The "ethical foreign policy" of the Cooke/Short era has given way to the Iraq war. People get shuffled between "unemployed" and "incapacitated" to make the numbers look good.

The civil liberties stuff is reprehensible, but maybe that's "just the post-2001 world". In a way it represents a failure to learn from NI, because that was at least 50% due to Major laying the groundwork for it. I cheered Labour in in 97, but because of ID cards I will cheer them leaving.

The Bank of England independance and the Scottish assembly appear to be the lasting successes. Mostly the Scottish assembly has highlighted that PR can work in the UK and that University tuition fees are a bad idea. If only they'd dared introduce PR for England ...

[link] [parent] [reply]

The civil liberties stuff isn't just the post-2001 world. The Terrorism Act of 2000 was already showing a lack of respect for civil liberties before them.

[link] [parent] [reply]

You're right - after the Good Friday agreement but before 9/11, at the time when the terrorist threat to this country was arguably at its lowest for 40 years. That makes it even stranger.

[link] [parent] [reply]

I have the day off ;) Whatever Obama does now, someone's going to be disappointed.

I know what you mean about Blair and 1997, I remember the buoyant mood and I am very conscious of the disappointment when Blair turned out to be a megalomaniac with a photogenic smile. I automatically distrust orators, and it's perfectly obvious that Obama is an imperfect centre-right politician, not the saviour of the world.

However, if Blair had been running against McCain and the rotting remains of what used to be the Republican party, I would have voted for him in a heartbeat. So I'm celebrating the defeat of McCain, and I'm celebrating that my fears turned out to be unfounded and the US actually managed to run a competent, meaningful election. I don't have to be passionately in love with Obama for those to be worth cheering about.

October