Woo Demmycrats! Woo!

I’ve always viewed American politics from the role of bemused outsider watching a trashy reality tv show, sort of half-heartedly willing on the more leftist political elements purely for the sake of fuzzy trans-Pacific ideological affinity, but I’ve just today come to the conclusion that taking a closer and more involved analytical stance would be in my own best interest. Prime Minister John Howard’s strategy of undermining the potential voter base for new Opposition Leader Mark Latham in Parliament over the past two days has centred mainly around the latter’s references to President Bush earlier this year as “the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory”, suggesting that an elected Labor government under his leadership would be dangerously erosive to the vital Austro-American alliance. Notwithstanding how, conversely, the importance of obsequious fawning is to said association, it made me realise just how much of an impact the US Presidential elections in November 2004 should have on the Australian Federal election, due to be held roughly within a month of the former. If Bush were to be confidently reinstalled for another term, Australian voters may be swayed towards the conservative end of the spectrum to avoid any friction between the two nations, particularly if there’s another major terrorist attack in the next 11 months. On the other hand, if Bush were to be ousted by a Democratic candidate, Latham’s comments would be seen to be vindicated and, perhaps, more justified. If Howard had any sense, he’d bump the elections forward slightly to prevent this scenario from eventuating. All I have to do is cross my fingers that the election date is nice and late, that he doesn’t read this entry, and that you Yanks do your best to restore my desperately flagging confidence in your proclivity for common sense on a large scale.

*puts on elephant badge*

Oh wait, that’s Republican isn’t it…?