Captain's Blog Stardate: 31032008
In response to the many questions I get about the subject, I am writing this blog entry is about...you guessed it... the US primary cycle and the fact that Germans pretend to care. It has been my experience that even when I'm not involved in the conversation (even when no one knows that I'm American) Germans still talk about the US primaries. Particularly, they talk about who they think is going to win the Democratic nomination (which many people confuse with being a direct ticket to the presidency). This conversation, however, has very little to do with politics, actual knowledge of the American situation, or and real knowledge of what candidates offer. Really, the conversation is much like one you would hear people have about America's Next Top Model , Flava of Love or American Idol (by the way a lot of people actually watch Flava of Love here). The question is really "Who's going to win?" and the statement is "Last week, I was sure that she was going to be off the show...but she's still there".
What's more is that the negative campaigning, meaningless glory-grabbing, and direct/tacit accusations go without coverage here. There is really no story here about the former-first lady who touts her exaggerated first-hand experience up against a bright-eyed populist whose agenda consists entirely of "hope" and "change" who will say exactly what you want him to...but better than you can say it. There is even less attention that is paid to that old guy on the other side who beat a formerly obese minister and a horrible actor for his party's nomination.
In summary, yes Germans seem to care about the election cycle, but not in the same way that we care. There is a lot of blind idealism involved, combined with pulitzer winning CNN reports, and exaggerated by the fact that German politics is actually pretty boring.
