From The Morgue

As a citizen of the rest of the world, man, I gotta say, that Obama guy you got in your election race can sure deliver a hell of a speech. The acceptance speech at the Denver convention? That is a thing of beauty. Almost enough to make us rest-of-worlders start to hope.
(Any of my fellow rest-of-worlders who haven’t encountered the speech yet, you can find video and transcript here – this thing is seriously worth your time.)
And this is, what, the third? fourth? incredible speech by Obama during this campaign, speeches for the ages that will be studied in schools for decades or longer. And the speeches aren’t just wind-up toy messages, they are the product of the man and his campaign. This is the guy the Dems want you to vote for.
And on the other side of the ballot paper? John McCain, who is basically a missile in a rumpled suit, and who managed to snatch the media eye away from Obama the only way he could, with a completely frikkin’ insane nomination decision for his VP. I mean, Sarah Palin? This is his counterpoint? Its such a wacked-out move that it doesn’t even make sense on its own terms. Is she meant to grab the Clinton voters? Seriously, you figure a fundy Christian anti-abortion hardliner is going to win over disgruntled feminists?
Then again, this is the US, and up is usually down over there. Political engagement there has advanced further from rationality than in any other first-world nation (though most of the others are racing to catch up, it must be noted). Just hold it in your head for a moment – the truly insane thing is that in the US, a country economically wounded, deeply corrupted and compromised, locked in a tortuous unwinnable war, in this country there will be an election between Barack Obama and John McCain – conjure up the images in your mind, these two men, and all that they represent – there will be an election between these two men, and John McCain has a good chance of winning.
It doesn’t make the slightest lick of sense, but I’ll tell you this: it makes for one hell of an interesting show.

[Starting to get back into the groove of life. There may be blog.]
This one I got wrong: “There is a moral dimension to the Olympics, and I expect it to come to the fore in Beijing. It won’t be the first time there’s been a memorable protest under the five rings.”
There was barely a murmur of political protest from the athletes during this Olympiad. I am still surprised, given the massive conflicts that raged over the torch run, and the widespread awareness and popularity of the Tibet cause if nothing else. It was as if everyone who turned up just wanted to do their sporty and enjoy the atmosphere in the Olympic village! (Cue the usual run of media stories about how everyone is shagging everyone else in athlete-town.) Where, I ask, was their political consciousness?
In retrospect it isn’t so surprising. It is absolutely clear that China put on a wonderful Games, and the athletes were entirely caught up in it, with helpful people everywhere and a massive enthusiasm from the locals to show off their country to the world and win many, many medals. It was a brilliant games to watch, as well – any games that gives you both a Michael Phelps and a Usain Bolt is one to be cherished. Like so many other people, I don’t really give a toss about 99% of the Olympic sports at any other time, but the festival nature of the Olympics and the sheer global commitment to excellence gets me every time.
So I can understand any athlete with a political mission letting it slide in the face of this excellent welcome. For an athlete at this level, the politics can only ever be distantly second to the sport, and its easy to see that distant second fading away into obscurity. So it turned out to be a happy games, despite the occasional sour note that reverberated with deeply unpleasant power – the lip-synch little girl for one. Media in the UK didn’t shy away from hinting at China’s political failings, but also never went beyond insinuation. Everyone walked away exhilirated and smiling, and in fact there is something deeply encouraging in the embrace of the Chinese by the world when so often they are vilified or even feared in other countries.
This, then, was China’s coming out party into the 21st century world with a new social prominence to match its economic and political prominence. The Beijing Olympiad shows, unnervingly, just how functional a massive oppressive state can be when it marries itself to global capital. This is a model of the future; unlike Soviet Russia, whose communism was probably destined to collapse in upon itself sooner rather than later, China shows no cracks and I can fully believe it will be standing strong with this exact model of state management in a century’s time, or longer. It has embraced the systems in the rest of the world that don’t care about human rights, and in so doing has immunised itself from those systems that do care. It has had its coming out party, and it won’t be going inside again.