What the next president of the United States is gonna do about …?
From France, the American campaign was an interesting story. We all followed the never ending battle between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama as well as the details on Sarah Palin involvement in the bridge going nowhere. Hilary Clinton was very popular in the french medias, probably due to our last presidential election where Segolene Royal also had quite some chances of being elected. We were surprised to see how much time and effort every single TV channel gave to capture every single American citizen’s attention on a daily basis.
But my main surprise (and worries) concerned the duration of the campaign itself. Barack Obama justified his capacities and experience as a team leader only by the energy he gave to his campaign. The president is elected for 4 years in US. If I am correct, the campaign took possession of the medias during nearly 2 years.
Do you think, american citizens need 2 years to make up their mind about the next president? I don’t think so. My opinion is that the decision is taken in a few days; sometimes just before the actual day of the election. In France, the campaign also tend to be now longer than they were. But even if the medias start talking about it a year or so before the election, the actual campaign really starts 6 months before the election. If you remember that the french president is elected for 5 years, you see that it gives far more time to the president to develop its policy.
Then I though that there must be a reason why it’s so long in US so I asked some of my american friends in Paris about it. And, surprinsly, the only reason they gave me was that it was due to the size of the country. Indeed, 150 years ago, the candidates had to travel all around the country to present their program. That’s exactly why, the debate between Obama and Clinton took so much time. If they wanted, they could have travelled by horse, they had enough time to do so.
Do you think the Ohio needs to know the result in California to choose its own candidate? Again I don’t think so and it does sound weird to us.
So my question is simple. Is the next American president gonna do something about the duration of American campaign for the election of the president?
Tags: US Campaign
October 21st, 2008 at 17:51
i’m actually from palin-country — the capital city juneau, which she has essentially refused to live in during her tenure, in favor of wasilla. we had some video shot in “nowhere,” ketchikan, — driving down the ‘road to nowhere,’ riding the ferry that currently connects to the airport, and talking to residents about the brouha. check it out:
InsideNowhere
and yes, the length of the u.s. campaign season is out of control. on the other hand, i do think it might give underdog candidates (like obama once was) the chance to build a reputation with the public, gain sufficient notice against long-established machines like the clintons.
October 21st, 2008 at 18:12
It is true that Obama probably would have had more difficulties if was not for such long campaign. But I also think that the reason why only well-established machines like the clintons can gain sufficient money is due to the length of the campaign itself. US campaign seems to cost far more money than reasonable in a democratic country. I would be really interested to know how much money would be saved if only a six-month campaign was enough. Probably the amount of money is so huge that it would be far more usefull to use it for the candidate reforms instead of TV shows.
October 22nd, 2008 at 20:16
looking forward for more information about this. thanks for sharing. Eugene
October 24th, 2008 at 15:24
A very interesting article by the CRP (Center for Responsive Politics) about the amount of money in this particular presidential campaign was recently published :
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/10/us-election-will-cost-53-billi.html
I quote :
“WASHINGTON — The 2008 election for president and Congress is not only one of the most closely watched U.S. elections in years; it’s also the most expensive in history. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics estimates that more than $5.3 billion will go toward financing the federal contests upcoming on Nov. 4.”
October 29th, 2008 at 15:42
[...] What the next president of the United States is gonna do about …? From France, the American campaign was an interesting story. We all followed the never ending battle between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama as well as the details on Sarah Palin involvement in the bridge going nowhere. Hilary Clinton was very popular in the french medias, probably due to our last presidential election where Segolene Royal also had quite some chances of being elected. We were surprised to see how much time and effort every single TV channel gave to capture every single American [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 18:02
sorry , can i ask how did you make your tag cloud that way ? i love it . if you can mail me the answer i will be very happy