Mod Edit: Can everyone please discuss how foreigner view US politics and not the politics themselves? Thanks.
The US loves to commentate on the politics of countries elsewhere, but we rarely hear how other people think about US politics. This is not to say, of course, that other countries don't talk about or think about US politics--in fact, in China, they created full-fledged animated movies about US politics.
Please see below, courtesy of Next Media:
How does your country view US politics? Is there much discussion at all? Americans, what do you want to explain about your political system to the rest of the world?
Living in Canada I see all of the US news and politics, and I'll tell you right now the way I and most Canadians see US politics is quite simple - generally the same as ours, except the campaigns run for eons *when compared to a Canadian campaign*. Most campaigns here are about 1-3 months depending on election type, in the US it seems as though the campaigning goes on for about 18 months.
I find it absurd to the point of amusement until I remember the global position of the US and then I die a little inside. The importance of religion in American politics (how is abortion an important issue for anyone anywhere ever?!?!?!) and a Cold War fear of socialism are rather quaint from a European perspective.
Actually, the US never talks about politics outside of the US (I had no idea how parliamentary systems worked until I had to do a presentation on it "for work"). And foreign countries talk about US politics all the time, which is why US approval rates worldwide went up so dramatically after Obama's election. The US political system gets the most press coverage by far.
Finally, that video was made in Taiwan, it's a little awkward to call it China.
I wouldn't generalize what my country thinks about US politics. I'll just deliver my opinion.
US politics do get some media attention here in Germany, especially around voting time. General media trend here seems to be "Obama and the Good Guys" vs. "The Batshit Insane Republicans and their Wacko Friends". Some of the people we hear from across the great pond - Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, that preacher who wants Obama to die - make our most die hard conservative politicians look like harmless left wing first semester politics students.
Personally, I don't know enough about the US political system so I won't claim to be able to judge it. My personal impression is that image-wise, Obama is the best thing that could have happened to the US after the desastrous Bush era. Germany's own experience with the financial crisis shows me that the current goverment has little to no impact on how the economy and stuff develops, so Obama can probably neither be blamed nor praised for whatever happens to the US ecenomy. I like his ideas regarding health care etc., and I don't really get how people can protest against things that are a welcome standard here in Europe.
What I'm very sad about is the number of extremist views and people spreading them. I mentioned that preacher who wants Obama to die. Then there's those tea party guys who aren't actually making politics, but just want to wreak havoc for the sake of it (that's my impression). And the whole issue with political ads which are so aggressive that they'd probably get sued immediately if they'd broadcast that in Germany.
On November 04 2010 06:05 SichuanPanda wrote: Living in Canada I see all of the US news and politics, and I'll tell you right now the way I and most Canadians see US politics is quite simple - generally the same as ours, except the campaigns run for eons *when compared to a Canadian campaign*. Most campaigns here are about 1-3 months depending on election type, in the US it seems as though the campaigning goes on for about 18 months.
I'm going to have to disagree with you champ...Canadian politics is nothing like that of the US. The extreme partisanship in the US, with both the far right and left constantly mudslinging each other is fairly foreign to a country like Canada, whose entire culture is based on feigning politeness lol. The major Canadian political parties are almost both moderate, with slight left and right leaning tendencies. They in no way reflect the deep political divide that is currently destroying the fabric of American government. Meh, just my two sense...
What I get to hear from your politics is for example the vote on gay marriage. It seems as there are really people and politicans who think it's something wrong with it. I'm not gay in any kind, but why would I even think about what others do with other guys when they live together? An other thing was the Oil Catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. So what did your politicans do? If I remember correctly, they pressured BP in some kind of way, but it didnt change the time it took the leak to be plugged. Also, why do you have to have signs of McCain or Wayne Whatever hanging everywhere you go. I mean I don't live in a city, but imo it's much too much. And last I think that your politicians dont ever do what they promise, but all those fat old americans are cheering for them like rockstars. Are they that blind?
I'm torn between on the policies. On one hand they are really funny to watch. On the flip side things that happen there are kind of scary. And I generally dislike the "American Idol" style elections have started to get.
My 两分钱 (2 Cents in RMB (China) get the joke? ahahahaha) What I hear is that the people give too much crap about politics, we hold American politics in low regard, actually we hold politics at all in low regard, have the people run the country like they been doing, they are doing an ok job at it (the people up there aren't phenomenal but they get things done).
I wish it was possible to have serious discussions about politics on the internet. Now all I can say is that I feel that US politics is based on a rather marked ignorance about how much of the western word works (and I'm not talking about foreign relations related stuff). That make many of their claims regarding how the world work seem kinda odd.
(Its not a troll post). I see the US politics as a "TV show" , a illusion for make citizens of USA believe they are free, and that they can have a impact on their country.
I think there are polls where they let European citizens choose between Obama and McCain for president, and Obama gets like 80% of the vote. Dutch media also view and often show the Democrats as reasonable and the Republicans as insane.
EPT
You know what I mean.
