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9/16/2008
Europe needs Prime Minister Obama
I have good news. No, not for Republicans. Not for conservatives, either. Those ugly cousins oughta be kept in the back bedroom and allowed to come out only after the decent company has left.
No. My good news is for a much more enlightened group: The Rest of the World!
See, the world wants the U.S. to elect Barack Obama. If they could vote (that is, if they could all find their way into Milwaukee on Election Day) they’d elect Obama quickly, surely, and overwhelmingly.
I know this, because Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland said so:
Obama has stirred an excitement around the globe unmatched by any American politician in living memory. Polling in Germany, France, Britain and Russia shows that Obama would win by whopping majorities, with the pattern repeated in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. If November 4 were a global ballot, Obama would win it handsomely. If the free world could choose its leader, it would be Barack Obama. “If the free world could choose its leader.” Remember that phrase. Problem is: the nation that’s actually spent blood and treasure to keep the free world free might just choose somebody else. The McCain campaign is looking good, picking up numbers among women and independents. The formerly dispirited Republican base is perking up, and Obama’s former inevitability is looking…well, evitable.
That all may end up being meaningless, of course. There’s a long way to go.
Still, things have tightened up, and Republicans have the momentum. This worries Freedland. It worries The Rest of the World, too, which brings me back to my good news: the American Presidency needn’t be The World’s last chance.
It’s fairly well known that, to become the U.S. President, one must be a “natural born” citizen. Naturalized citizens can rise quite high in American politics, but they can’t aspire to the Big Chair.
This isn’t the case in Britain. Mere citizenship – naturalized citizenship included – is required to be elected to Parliament, and Parliament elects the Prime Minister from within its own ranks.
Barack Obama could, if he became a British citizen, also become the British Prime Minister.
The same appears to hold true in France and Germany and, I’ll bet, others. You can be born in Indonesia, schooled at Harvard, live in Chicago, become a naturalized European and rise to the top!
And, of course, once near the top of a European nation’s politics, it’s a short hop to the top of the European Union. With such vast support for Obama overseas, that can’t be so far-fetched.
I know what you’re thinking: they wouldn’t actually elect Obama. Not an American. Not in Britain.
To that, I say: Jonathan Freedland says otherwise. And he knows. He speaks for The Rest of the World.
Again, I know what you’re thinking: Obama would never go.
Well, maybe he would, if Freedland and his European friends can just market the idea right: show Obama how important he is to the world; how much he’s needed. Make the sacrifice, Barack, for the world. Come to Europe, where you’re loved!
If we Americans fail to live up to Europe’s standards again this year – if we revert, as we so often do, to our baser desires for lower taxes and cheap gas and the freedom to kill our own meat – it doesn’t mean The World can’t still have its way. It can: if Freedland’s ready to go the extra mile.
Convince Obama to become an Englishman, Freedland, and your greatest desire can yet come true. And, yeah, by the way: you can have him.
Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance and occasionally blogs at his own site as well.
COMMENTS
What a great idea! He'd fit right in there!
emily matthews (Tue Sep 16 07:28:10 2008)
"the nation that’s actually spent blood and treasure to keep the free world free"
Yeah. That's it. We're the only nation to have shed blood and spent money to promote democracy.
When was the last time we went to war in order to "keep the world free?" Probably WWII. And I'm tired of those laurels the US has lazily been resting on for 50 years.
Hopefully you haven't been misguided into thinking the Iraq war was to help free Iraqi's. That was two or three justifications ago. A little critical thinking, please...
Brian Bartel (Thu Sep 18 12:10:35 2008)
Good point, Brian. Actual elections, western-style politics, women going to school...nothing's improved in Iraq at all, freedom-wise. You've totally got me.
Lance Burri (Thu Sep 18 20:13:52 2008)
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