Wednesday, October 15, 2008

There's only one Barack Obama

Hurrying home after work tonight, trying to get back before the third and final Obama-McCain Presidential debate started, I saw this sign outside a pub in downtown San Francisco.

I love the idea of screening political debates in bars, but I can't quite imagine the same thing happening in the UK. Of course, it helps that San Francisco is a fiercely liberal Democratic heartland, so the kind of dissenting views that might lead to bar brawls are unlikely. Nevertheless, I think it represents something fundamentally different about the political culture here.

I'm just sorry that I won't have another chance to witness this part of the American electoral process in action (well, not in this election at least). The idea of it intrigues me. Is there heckling? Cheering and booing? Singing even? Well, probably not the latter, but it's fun to imagine all the same. All together now: Can you hear the GOP sing? No-oh, no-oh-oh.