John Kerry: The Hope of the World (Guardian)

[WillyBrandt]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,1161446,00.html

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses less than seven weeks ago, seasoned US observers were forecasting that the battle for the Democratic party's 2004 presidential nomination would be nasty, brutal and - quite possibly - long. With at least six plausible heavyweight candidates, and with the insurgent former Vermont governor Howard Dean seemingly the man to beat, the talk was of cultural division, political bloodletting and the prospect that the contest might even produce the first brokered Democratic convention in the cleaned-up, post-1968 era. In the event, and to the consternation of Republicans, such forecasts have proved to be wholly wrong. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts won comfortably in Iowa on January 19 and has never looked back. This week Mr Kerry effectively locked up the nomination by winning nine out of 10 "Super Tuesday" primaries, including big wins in vote-rich California and New York, and forcing his last serious rival, John Edwards of North Carolina, to abandon his own impressive presidential bid.

Mr Kerry's unequivocal win provides him with the best possible platform from which to unify his party for the contest against George Bush in November. He won this week in states in the east, the west, the north and even the south, where Mr Edwards had hoped to slow his opponent's momentum. Mr Kerry's wins in Georgia and Ohio were particularly telling, since these two very different states are among the handful that may be truly competitive in November.

[ewagner]

1. This sends chills down my spine

The free world has never had a stronger interest in the result of a US election than it has in the defeat of Mr Bush. Senator Kerry carries the hopes not just of millions of Americans but of millions of British well-wishers, not to mention those of nations throughout Europe and the world.


It's sobering to think that a lot of the free world has as much riding on this election as we do........absolutely sobering.

[Manix]

2. Bush is the most unpopular US President the world has ever known.

Sad and disgusting.

[acmavm]

3. I was looking to see if anyone posted this article. The news that the

rest of the world wants Bush* out of office needs to be spread far and wide. No one, and by no one I mean human beings with at least two functioning brain cells, wants to see this asshole continuing to screw up the entire planet just because he's got some kind of complex in regard to his own importance. And again, everyone realizes is Bush* goes, so does Cheney, Perle, Rice, Powell, Wolfie, and the rest of the cabal.

I certainly hope this happens. We need to win not only for ourselves, but for the rest of the world.