If Obama wins, I’d love to revisit this promise in three years and see how he’s done on that score.

QTR,
A few months back, there was a great article in Time about ‘experience’ as a predictor for success in the role of POTUS. Their conclusion; it wins/loses you votes, but in terms of your ability to do the job, it means sweet FA.

Not even a mention of Clark’s outburst regarding the SFO today?

Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share on the subject?

While we’re on topic for conspiracy theories, do you believe the WTC was demolished by controlled explosions from the inside?

Are you SURE you don’t want to vote for Winston?

This bit in the article is interesting as well:
The Financial Times described Mr Key as “young, smart and rich”, but warned that if he beat Helen Clark at the polls in the next 11 weeks, he would become the most inexperienced politician to lead New Zealand in more than 100 years.

Which is like Nationals and very unlike Labours.

[because Labour is the govt, it's policies come out through govt press releases, the Budget and announcements, additional to that it will announce election policies. SP]

Its not working Steve, as much as Labour is going to lay it on thick with bigotry and fear. National will be the ones trying to help New Zealand.

I will be bet anyone here, that during the election, Aunty Helen will go to a house in South Auckland, talk to an extremely overweight person who hasnt work for years, and say something on the lines “Labour will look after you, unlike the National party”

[got me there Graeme, I guess that means Key is the white Obama, well done. SP]

Fair call. His website does have a lot of policy. He never talks about policy on the stump much, though. He’s usually a lot of bluster with little substance in that environment.

Despite that, and despite the fact he’s a hard-core leftie in a centre-right country, he’s a 50-50 chance (or better) of becoming the next POTUS.

[remember too, running to be Pres is not like running to be PM. the systems are not alike - the Pres is just head of the exec and must make deals with congress to get laws passed, and the laws that can be made are limited by the constitution and the seperate power of the states. The PM is leader of her party, leader of the largest voting bloc in Parliament and head of the exec. A candidate for Pres can't promise as much as a party and it's leader because the Pres has less relative power in the legislative process. SP]

Obama and Key are both seen as outsiders in their respective spheres, but Obama has shown himself to be just like any other politician by changing his mind to suit himself and/or his electability.

John Key isn’t as impressive when it comes to rhetoric. They’re both pretty shallow on details at this stage.

[try actually going to Obama's webpage, it's full of policy. SP]