Godspeed to you all

I have not commented on the intricacies or the nuances of American presidential politics on my blog, but there's always a first. Ever since the long elaborate process to select a candidate who would run for president started, I have been avid, in passing interest at times which has waned and deteriorated over the months.

Can this system work in India? Imagine Manmohan Singh vs Pranab Mukherjee, with their efforts to upstage the other, trying to be the 'candidate', and of course for practical reasons we can't even think of such a scenario with the umpteen political parties and regionilistic views. More importantly can the candidates ever reconcile for the good of the party after all the mudslinging?

I can't vote, but given a chance I'd vote Democrat or so I thought. Hillary was my choice, she is better suited to be president than Obama. Nevertheless Obama seems to have a strong view on critical policies too, however the excessive media coverage he gets in comparison to McCain is sometimes overbearing and seems plain unfair.

Do hard line party lines come first or a candidate's view on policies take priority while voting? I mean how different can they be, McCain is a war hero, a POW and an experienced politician while Obama seems like a novice in comparison, however it is his fresh ingenious outlook that draws people to him. Again you can compare McCain and Obama's supporters on social networking sites such as facebook and twitter, there is no competition there, Obama wins hands down.

Then why is he not leading in the polls?, the other day, I put up a status message on twitter, when CNN confirmed that Obama had picked Biden to be his VP and someone read it as 'Osama'! an 's' in the wrong place can make a whole lot of difference. Obama is perceived to be a Muslim, he is black, not technically though since his mother was white, yet as they say, stereotypes are carved in stone and it may be tough to mould them.

The DNC at Denver is truly an extravaganza, like a pop concert only this one lasts longer. The enthusiasm and spirit of the supporters seems contagious. If only there was such a keen interest in Indian politics. The first thought that comes to my mind when I think of political rallies in India, is that the party would have hired/bribed some local folks to make the numbers!, why the mistrust, why the disdain among the educated class? Food for thought.

Hillary Clinton gave an astounding speech yesterday, she is one of the most eloquent speakers I've heard, I think the media has given her a hard time so far, she has emerged out of Monicagate, out of her loss to Obama, only more strong, more resolute. When push comes to shove, it is Hillary Clinton who has delivered the goods like she did yesterday. She ended her speech with the term 'Godspeed to you all', I like it... it almost means 'may God be with you', a relatively new term in speech circles!

Speaking in tongues

Today is a day of obligation for us Catholics, no not because it is Independence day, but to celebrate the Assumption of our Lady into heaven. Since it was my day off (now how I managed to do that two days in a week is a post for another day!), I decided to attend the multi-lingual mass in the evening (the extra winks on a Friday morning are precious!), than the English one in the wee hours of dawn.

Father's dialect of Spanish puts my claim to 'know' a bit of Spanish to shame! Mid-way through the mass and I wondered why they call it multi-lingual?, should it not be called bi-lingual? after all only Spanish and English was spoken!

And then came a barrage of languages for the prayers of the faithful, I could recognize only Spanish and Vietnamese ( my driving instructor spoke in Vietnamese, the accent is unmistakenable!) and no, I could not understand all the words they spoke... I have not yet received the gift of tongues yet knew the standard english response for each of them. How cool is that?

Happy Indian Independence day to all ( 9 mins to midnight!)