Joe please go.

The quote of the day comes from Joe, the plumber :

I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. (sic) I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what’s happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it’s asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you’d go to the theater and you’d see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for ‘em.

Incidentally, he is himself in Israel as a war correspondent for Pajamas TV. Seriously. And he wasn’t even around during the World Wars !

I am not sure if I feel sorry for this guy or irritated by him. The only intelligent thing he ever did was ask Barack Obama an honest query. Since then, he has only pretended to be sensible. And the Republicans/conservatives who have gotten him into this mess aren’t helping either.

India’s Obama.

I have wondered in quite a few posts when India will get her Obama. But our prayers are finally being answered (although there seems to be some misunderstanding between the almight and us.)

The first candidate is Shri. L.K. Advani (I went through his entire website and I am pretty sure Shri is his first name). Firstly, his personal portal lkadvani.in that was inaugurated a week after Obama’s win (and if McCain would have won, he already had speeches with मावेरिक ready). Just search for the number of times ‘change’ appears in his recent speech (Link). Plus a lot looks familiar with an exception that the ‘Donations’ option is missing. Public funding is something that cannot be done so blatantly according to the Election Commission. In their laws, they clearly mention that “Funding for campaigns is strictly to be obtained by unfair means when in power whatsoever”.

Another candidate is Pramod Mahajan’s daughter, Poonam Mahajan contesting from Mumbai. Her campaign slogan is “You deserve better. You deserve a change.“

With the state elections approaching, and the general elections next year, I am sure many more politicians are going to jump in with their local variants of ‘change’ and ‘बदलाव’.

But somehow I have this feeling that Mr. L.K. Advani is the Barack Obama of India. And no, it is not just instinct. Lalu Prasad Yadav (the only Indian politician who bears some similarity to Sarah Palin) just called Advani a ‘terrorist’.

On a more serious note, L.K. Advani’s portal is actually good with transcripts and videos of all his speeches, his campaign trail, his stand on issues, etc. We deserve to know everything about our Prime Ministerial candidates.

Meanwhile, the Congress is working hard to get their portal http://www.manmohansingh.in running. Apparently they are having some issues with the proxy server. Citation needed.

President elect Barack Obama.

The long wait is over. Sen. Barack Obama is the President elect of the USA. Not just another victory, but a victory where he rethought and thereby redefined everything on the way : the groundwork, campaigning, fund raising, speaking, planning. Politics in America can no longer be the same.

As a side note, the campaign also taught us plenty :

As Son of Bosey states, millions of people all over the world and thousands of clueless Indians are delighted with Obama’s win (true for many in the USA too).

Indians expect more from the President of USA than we do from our own Prime Minister.

In India, we will be have to put up with hundred articles on every remote association that Barack Obama has with India/Indians.

Oxford has decided to retire the word ‘maverick’ from English forever.

Plumbers have gone underground out of shame.

Ditto for Joe’s.

Miss South Carolina is glad she is smarter than someone.

Russia has gone back to its original lcoation, and can no longer be seen from Alaska. And Africa is back to being a continent.

Tina Fey, late night comedians and Fox news are looking out for alternate occupations.

Not only in India.

Written in a previous post here,

I think a basic statistical (and geeky) analysis on commissions in India would reveal that the mean of all reports in an issue is exactly zero, and further analysis might prove them to be either uncorrelated or correlated with the coefficient -1. The truth, we may sadly never know.

Looks like zero isn’t our only contribution to the world :

Alaska Legislative Probe Finds Palin Misused Power.

Second probe clears Palin.

Brawn vs brain.

There are some very famous quotes in the US presidential elections (similar to the “Maut ka Saudagar” line in Gujarat elections) :

The last minute question by Ronald Reagan in the final presidential debate during the 1980 elections : “Are you better off now than you were four years ago ?”, which went on to become a game changer that year.

The question thrown around often this time is : “Whom would you rather have dinner with ? McCain or Obama ?”

Since the answer to that was certainly not going in favor of Sen. John McCain, giving a new twist to the above question was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (campaigning for Sen. McCain) :

If you were in a POW cell … who would you want in that cell with you ?

Now why the #@@#@$@ would I be in a POW cell !!!!

The sly old veteran.

John McCain, in all his political speeches, mentions that if he is elected President, he will nab Osama Bin Laden, because he KNOWS how to get him (Link).

An honest wondering I had :

If you knew it all along, what the @*#@#@#$%@%$ were you waiting for !!!!

American Stories, American Solutions

The latest Barack Obama infomercial, for which he bought a primetime slot on 7 major channels, just a week before the elections :

Sleek ! Maybe a little Hollywoody, the cynics would say.  And of course, amazing music which I must give half the credit to, especially the parts with heavy strings.

Every time I hear this guy, I ask this question which I am sure every Indian must have asked himself at some point after listening to him : When will India get her Obama ? And no, I do not think Mayawati is the right answer.

If you have been following the US elections, you would have heard most of the things before. But that doesn’t stop it from making an impact. Maybe a few more specifics and plans, not that I care too much, and he would have scored a home run.

The argumentative Indian, but not on debates.

As I watched the 2nd presidential debate, I couldn’t help but wonder if such debates would ever be held in India because fundamentally when you juxtapose 2 candidates (or in India, 20 candidates and a few hundred hopefuls), you really get to see your choices and shop accordingly. Add the fact that you actually need to talk about issues, you cannot get away with calling each each Italian, communal and pseudo-secular.

Turns out Rajdeep Sardesai had tried to get both the PM hopefuls Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi face-to-face during the 2004 elections, and as expected, neither agreed. Also, read his analysis of every major politician and why such debates might not really work as well : Link

The ending is priceless :

I intend to write to Mrs Gandhi, Mr Advani and Ms Mayawati to appear together on a televised show ahead of the next general elections. It’s unlikely to happen, but it may still be worth a shot. If they don’t agree, there’s always Messrs Sibal and Jaitley to turn to!!

I wouldn’t like to be a Kapil Sibal or Arun Jaitley reading this, especially after having provided countless journalists with their bread and butter.

To lipstick, pigs, hockey and Sarah Palin.

I would like to dedicate this post solely to the Republican Vice-Presidental candidate Alaskan governor Mrs. Sarah Palin, out of respect and gratitude for all the laughs in these troubled times.

Tine Fey on Saturday Night Live pretty much nails the mimicry in all her 3 appearances on SNL :
SNL 1 : Interview with Katie Couric.
SNL 2 : Appearance with Hillary Clinton.
SNL 3 : VP Debate with Joe Biden.

Although I must honestly admit, they are not half as funny as the real appearances of Sarah lipstick-on-a-pig (she is the lipstick) hockey-mom Palin :
On Foreign Policy.
On the $700 billion bailout proposal (watch a frustrated Jack Cafferty at the end).

As Jack Cafferty perfectly puts it :

If John McCain wins, this woman will be one 72-year old’s heartbeat away from being President.

P.S. : Do watch her latest series of attacks on Barack Obama’s association with Bill Ayers, Video 1, Video 2 and Video 3 (at 1.20). The important things I concluded are that she does not memorise her lines (because she uses a few a’s and the’s differently) and that the Vice Presidental candidate reads the newspaper one day late.

Politics of change.

Anyone who has been following American politics would have surely heard the democratic nomination acceptance address by Barack Obama at the DNC in Denver. It was not an inspiring speech; but it addressed issues that plague most Americans; perfect way to speak.

Obama is not just the face of change in America, but the face of change of politics all over the world. The fact that he has come so far is a testimony to the true nature of democracy of a nation. India might be respected all over the world as the largest democracy, but I do not think a maverick politician would even go beyond the corporation elections, assuming he won his ward with great difficulty.

While the Democratic convention was full of words like renewable energy, global warming, independence from oil, it is a sad thing to even look at the issues that our politicians are talking about. While I have had my share of debates with people who believe that McCain is better for India, especially concerning outsourcing, I stand by my opinion that even if Obama is harmful for India, every country deserves to get the best person to take care of her. And it is not hard to see that the person is Obama for America as of now.

In the words of Rajdeep Sardesai, India still awaits her Obama.