Hillary is in trouble. After victory in the Wisconsin and Hawaii primaries, Obama has ten wins under his belt since Super Tuesday. It's “do or die” for Hillary on 4th March, where she has to win both Ohio and Texas to keep in the race for the Democratic nomination.
What is very surprising is that Britons prefer the New York senator while the Germans, Italians, Spaniards and French prefer Obama. A recent Financial Times/Harris Poll showed that 28% of those surveyed in Britain would vote Clinton. Only 23% would vote for the Illinois senator. 45% of voters in Italy, on the other hand, would vote for Obama. And 35% of Spaniards would.
It is not surprising that the Democratic candidates are much more popular than the Republicans in Europe. Many Europeans just perceive Republicans as anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, and generally illiberal. And they hate this.
I want to put my finger on why Hillary is more popular here. Perhaps it the British thing of liking to be different. We drive on the left while most drive on the right. We’ve kept our feet and inches, whereas the rest of Europe has gone metric. Everyone's voting for Obama so I'm going to vote for Hillary.
Maybe it’s our scepticism of radical change. Yes, we want Bush Jnr out. But someone who's only been a senator since late 2004 and wants US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq immediately? The French do revolutions; we do evolution. Hillary is a reliable choice: she's done this 'being in the White House' thing before. Best to settle with the safe option, especially in times of economic turbulence.
Yet, I actually think it is to do with Clinton's association with the early Blair years. Britons see Labour's first term as a good time. Economic stability, no disastrous wars and no Islamic terrorism. A tired Conservative Government had ended and the disastrous Bush-Blair years had yet to begin. The start of the Blair ascendancy was so much better than the Brown years of economic uncertainty, dodgy donations and Government incompetence we are currently suffering.
Britons are nostalgic for the good old Clinton-Blair years. That, I think, is the reason why Hillary is so popular.
The Guardian
- Best days of your life?
- Conservative modernisation: it's time for version 2.0
- For Tories, STV is the answer
- Home truths on the boomerang boys
- It's time for a kinder Conservatism
- Loneliness should be recognised as a signal of poverty in today's Britain
- Maternity pay just isn't fair
- New grub street
- The 'big society' must be more than a professional feelgood exercise
- The other half of social mobility
- The real cost of no-fees degrees
- We must cut speed limits
- We need more women
Daily Mail
- Alcohol price hikes won't stop binge drinkers
- Attenborough is the BBC at its best and must be saved from cuts
- Cyclists are universally loathed
- Don't let X Factor fool you
- Freedom on the slopes comes at a price
- Here's how the liberal elite can help the poor climb the social ladder
- Home is the only place Labour's boomerang kids can go
- I fear trouble when iPOD generation hits the job market this summer
- Imaginative early years will improve our children's education
- More students don't always mean more social mobility
- Social mobility starts when you get out and vote
- The harsh reality for twentysomethings
- Time to own up - I'm just not a fan of the festive season
- Young people should start treating us geeks with the respect we deserve
The Independent
- Cameron should ignore the calls for an early election: the Tories need the liberals
- David Cameron's oppressive Big Society
- Don't let the Government scrap Sure Start
- Of course the Conservatives should be the party for workers. But they must also be the party for those out of work
- Stop all this exaggeration
- Tear down the social ghettos
- The Tories should drop their obsession with small government
- The immigration issue is overshadowing the spirit of optimism which once defined Cameron's Conservatism
- The politics of love
- The right type of Big Society
- This Tory love affair with marriage must stop
- Why I, a Conservative, say Yes to AV
- Why we’re all a little liberal and a little conservative
- Yearning for the great outdoors
New Statesman
- A third source to boost living standards: the family
- Conservatism will wither without modernisation
- Ending school segregation is the key to social mobility
- Goldman Sachs gets into social impact bonds - but what are they?
- In defence of Cameron's conservatism
- Legalising same-sex marriages is conservative, not liberal
- Liberals are well served by the Conservative Party
- Osborne must be bold to show the Tories are not "the party of the rich"
- Osborne's attack on flexible working will harm family life
- The next stage of Tory modernisation must address the party's class problem
- Why we need a Lib Dem-Tory alliance
The Daily Telegraph
Yorkshire Post
- A generation that's running too fast and getting nowhere
- Booming industries should create opportunities for all
- Childcare help could rescue the Prime Minister
- Early years education must be affordable for everyone
- Fees put universities to the test over value for money
- If degrees don't pay off, why charge more?
- Let’s talk about love to put passion in politics
- No country for young people
- Our universities must learn a valuable lesson in student economics
- Sandwich generation spread themselves thin
- Student fee protesters are opposing opportunities for all
- The X Factor dream and the hard graft of real success
- We must fight this devastating blow to families
- We must give education the power to change more lives
- We need a degree of reality about university
- Why living an 'extended youth' makes grown up sense
- Why our children should learn to love the outdoor life
- Why the Lib Dems hold the key to future Tory success
- You don't have to be nice to be part of the big society
Prospect Magazine
Standpoint.
Total Politics
Public Finance
Conservative Home
The Huffington Post
The Progressive Conscience
LSE politics and policy
Public Servant
Market Square
- Childcare: the good, the bad, the uncertain
- What do 5A*-Cs tell us about school performance?
- Time for some fresh thinking on childcare
- Universities in demand?
- Easing the cost of childcare
- A passport to the mainstream
- Getting bang for students' buck
- The university access question: be careful what you wish for
- The forgotten bank of mum and dad
Public Sector Executive
Nursery World
New Culture Forum
Blog Archive
Thursday, 21 February 2008
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