We Love The Aussies....

...but on this they do need to shut up.

Captain Ed offers up a frank response to Australian PM John Howard's dissing of US presidential candidate Barak Obama. Among other things the PM said that...

.....I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory," Howard said on Nine Network television.

While his assessment is not without merit, the comments from any non US observers on who we should elect are most unwelcome. The fact that the Jihadists have in fact, invested a lot of hope in a Dem electoral victory, on the assumption that it will facilitate our pulling out from Iraq, is a worriesome point that puts a huge monkeywrench in the electoral process here. It tends to stifle honest debate and criticism.

Obama seems to be a decent fellow who, despite his unfortunate C&R take on Iraq, is dedicated to doing what he genuinely thinks is right for the USA. Although he did not cover himself in glory with his impolitic response to PM Howard's unfortunate remarks, this seems borne of ignorance of the proportionality of Australia's contribution....and it is ultimately irrelevant to the main point to boot...

Americans, through the Electoral College, will decide who our next leader is. Like any nation, we have a whole slew of issues that mean something in our cultural and local context that pass foreigners by, just as elections in other countries frequently cause us to scratch our heads.

A leader of the caliber of Hugo Chavez, would certainly be cause for concern to other countries, but despite the hysterical frothings of the BDS Brigade we are not there and haven't had a such a worrisome executive in a VERY long time.

I agree with Captain Ed that we in America, and especially those of us on the right, need to join hands and denounce this unfortunate turn of phrase despite the high regard we have for PM Howard's and Australians in general.
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It should be noted that the Aussies have been at the forefront of this long war in places like East Timor even before we were forced off our asses by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Many of us deeply respect them for that, especially given the somewhat limited resources their thinly populated nation has. They are always punching above their weight and doing it well.