"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

I agree that seeing him talking directly to the Chinese was very
impressive. I dont think too many world leaders would have the range of
languages that he does. But I do think they have to get off their arses
and start doing something.

Since they've taken over the role as the Government, they've probably only
sat for about 4 weeks. Not enough to do a bloody thing of use, yet.

well no, but what can you do in just 4 weeks? :-)

i do, however, think that symbolic actions are important (in terms of
getting us all moving on to where we are going) & there's been a lot of
that. actual sitting time isn't set by govts, so what can one do? in the
meantime, i love the way they are going through like a dose of salts. we
NEEDED it!

also, i am secretly shallow so keep that in mind when i say: i hate his
ties. he never wears a tie i like. his taste in ties is absolutely foul.
something should be done..!

but i can forgive a bad tie in someone who i sincerely believe is all set to
do the right things, not awful things like ahem did.

You're right. I am not sure about obama, as far as his policies are
concerned, but, damn, the boy has charisma and is fast on his feet.

The trouble with 'charismatic' leaders is that the instant people see
through the 'charisma', they drop like a ton of lead. I'm not yet
convinced that Obama has anything of substance. Hillary does, but she
certainly has baggage.

all i can really say on this subject (like i even CARE!) is that neither of
them (none of them!) could be worse than the incumbent.

*If* things were to go as he portarys, perhaps you all would love us
again. But one must always ask, who really controls the show?

i also think yanks have an over-inflated idea of how much they were ever
loved in the first instance g

:-)) It does tend to come as a surprise to many Americans that they
aren't universally loved, but I do think that Charlie might be an
exception to that grouping as he seems to have made an effort to look
beyond his borders.

charlie is noice. :-)

having said that, any country probably has a majority of nice (in their way)
individuals. it's how they act collectively that matters, in many ways. that
seems to be the problem with the farcical olympic torch business - most
chinese people are lovely, but the govt there is appalling. i think some
chinese are feeling rather oppressed in a personal way by the protests when
it's actually a governmental thing that shouldn't be taken personally.

It's not so difficult to understand such a mind set if you think of us
having 300 million people on our continent - imagine trying to keep up
with current affairs within the nation in that circumstance, let alone
trying to know what is going on in the rest of the world. Add to that
being the most powerful nation on earth and it must be a bit of a heady
mix.

I've always thought that we were extraordinarily lucky to be where we are
and what we are. We're a piddling little, unimportant nation stuck at
what other nations see as being the bottom of the world, but that works to
our benefit. We take in news and media from all sorts of nations and
because we all feel that we are isolated, we travel, and for our size, we
travel a lot.

i think obscurity is great. not to mention, necessary.
kylie