THE LONDONER: London likes Clinton, Obama and Winehouse
Residents there love people who are connected to anything British
By: Erin Tobin
Issue date: 2/13/08 Section: Opinion
Hopefully Super Tuesday was a joyful event for everyone involved back home and voting was done in droves (or maybe a bit of this dry English humor is rubbing off on me). Here across the pond, we didn't miss out on much except maybe actually voting, and some of us actually were able to get absentee ballots turned in before the cut-off date.
Here in London, the American political race is mind-bogglingly popular, dare I say more popular than back home? It is not clear whether the interest is out of pure amusement or if it is genuine intrigue, but without a question every night there is coverage of the primaries both on the BBC news and SkyNews.
That means there are nightly updates in campaign setbacks, the dropping of cleverly crafted names of events and jargon being thrown about, even when it is questionable whether the newscasters really understand what they are saying.
The Brits, or at least the Londoners, seem to focus most of their interest on the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They seem to view the next election to be groundbreaking for the United States, ending in either the first female or the first non-Caucasian president. Sorry Republicans, London seems already to have counted you out.
London's fascination isn't limited to just coverage of the primary results. The candidates themselves have been given the English "star treatment." This of course, includes every aspect of their lives being explored in the city's newspapers, which made a point of mentioning Obama's favorite English football team. If you are curious, he appears to cheer on the blue and claret-clad West Ham team. In fact, he has been cheering on the Hammer's for about five years now if you believe the London papers.
Not to be outdone, it has recently been disclosed that Hillary is a Manchester United fan.
But the local television channels aren't just interested in the candidates. The country is often propelled by the public and likewise, they are interested in what Americans think is politically important. Open with their own politics, Londoners don't seem too hesitant to ask people to whom their vote is going and will correct you if they think you've made a bad choice.
Here in London, the American political race is mind-bogglingly popular, dare I say more popular than back home? It is not clear whether the interest is out of pure amusement or if it is genuine intrigue, but without a question every night there is coverage of the primaries both on the BBC news and SkyNews.
That means there are nightly updates in campaign setbacks, the dropping of cleverly crafted names of events and jargon being thrown about, even when it is questionable whether the newscasters really understand what they are saying.
The Brits, or at least the Londoners, seem to focus most of their interest on the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They seem to view the next election to be groundbreaking for the United States, ending in either the first female or the first non-Caucasian president. Sorry Republicans, London seems already to have counted you out.
London's fascination isn't limited to just coverage of the primary results. The candidates themselves have been given the English "star treatment." This of course, includes every aspect of their lives being explored in the city's newspapers, which made a point of mentioning Obama's favorite English football team. If you are curious, he appears to cheer on the blue and claret-clad West Ham team. In fact, he has been cheering on the Hammer's for about five years now if you believe the London papers.
Not to be outdone, it has recently been disclosed that Hillary is a Manchester United fan.
But the local television channels aren't just interested in the candidates. The country is often propelled by the public and likewise, they are interested in what Americans think is politically important. Open with their own politics, Londoners don't seem too hesitant to ask people to whom their vote is going and will correct you if they think you've made a bad choice.
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