The US Elections have been occupying my time lately – it’s the closeness of the results and the lack of obvious frontrunners in both the Democratic and Republican parties that’s made this so interesting – add in the fact of being able to access live coverage via the internet plus my West Wing fan mania ( it’s a testament to the quality of the writing that so many of the issues have already been aired in WW episodes) , has me obsessing with the race for the White House. So why don’t I support Hillary – the first credible woman candidate for the White House ? Although I support gender balance measures I don’t believe in supporting a woman, no matter what – Margaret Thatcher as the first woman PM is no source of pride to me as a feminist – Hillary Clinton isn’t in the same ball park as Thatcher politically.. except I wonder what her political compass is..other than power for its own sake.. oddly enough, that’s my issue with Obama – if ever there was someone who gives off a vibe of victory being more important than what you do when you get there..so John Edwards has been making the most interesting statements and has the support of the unions and is the person who would get my vote – but he won’t win the nomination, there are too many vested interests that he’s challenging, especially on health care. One fascinating aspect is that “change” is the watchword of the campaigns – and I think one even has “it’s time for change” as the message.. oddly familiar.. also many of the vox pops have voters saying they like someone because “they’re not politicians” – which is mince, because they’re all politicans – but somehow the zeitgeist is “vote for me, I’m not a party hack”…if you can’t do authentic and real then find a way to fake it…