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October 2008
Or maybe a seat on the Supreme Court?
Oprah Winfrey. Movie star, talk show host, do-gooder … and American ambassador?
According to Gideon Rachman’s international affairs blog on the Financial Times Web site today, the idea of Barack Obama naming Oprah Winfrey as ambassador to Britain isn’t all that far-fetched.
He said that, in London, the local interest has centered on the question of who will be the next ambassador. If Obama wins, many people believe it might be Caroline Kennedy.
“This would be an interesting appointment, given that the last Kennedy to serve as U.S. ambassador to Britain - Joe Kennedy - did not exactly cover himself in glory. He was forced to resign in 1940 after injudiciously suggesting that ‘democracy is finished in England’.”
But Rachman said that there is also a far more interesting name doing the rounds than Caroline Kennedy — Oprah Winfrey. “This is a bona fide rumor, put about by well-placed sources,” he said. “The argument is that Oprah is also a prominent supporter of Obama and that she might be looking for a change of direction - having grown bored with her mega-star status.”
I’m not sure what a bona fide rumor means, or how it’s different from a regular rumor, but it’s fun to speculate.
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The world, according to polls, wants Obama …
Surprise, surprise … another new global survey reveals that the entire world is pinning its hopes on a Barack Obama victory next month.
The research, carried out by eight leading newspapers including the Guardian newspaper in London, finds overwhelming support for the Democratic candidate. He would win by a landslide in every country surveyed, including Britain, where he is ahead of John McCain by 64% to 15%. Elsewhere Obama leads by wide margins as well. In Canada, Obama leads McCain by 70%-14%; in Japan the margin is 61%-13%.
Support for Obama is stronger than backing for John Kerry in 2004, when a similar poll was conducted. Then, the Democrat was the preferred candidate of 50% of British people.
The survey also shows that opinion of America has dropped dramatically since the start of the decade. In France 75% say their view of the United States has gotten worse or much worse since President Bush replaced Bill Clinton in 2001; in Canada 77%; in Switzerland 86%; and in Japan 62%.
For McCain, the poll results mean he might not be the most welcome of visitors in countries around the world if he does become president. And he should definitely avoid France, where only 5% of the population supports him.
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But what does Madonna think about the bank bailout?
Volatile stock markets. Plunging home prices. Rising unemployment. Yet what are the British papers full of today?
News of a split between America’s Material Girl and British director Guy Ritchie. According to various reports, Madonna, 50, and her husband are seeking a pre-Christmas divorce because they “can’t bear to live with the pretense any longer.”
Britain’s Sun newspaper claims that the couple will announce their split within a few days. The two married seven years ago at an extravagant ceremony in Scotland. The couple have spent most of their married life in London, sharing a $14 million home with their children - Lourdes, 12, Rocco, seven, and David, two. Madonna adopted David from a Malawian orphanage in 2006, and was granted permanent custody of the little boy only last month. Lourdes is the singer’s daughter by Carlos Leon, her former fitness instructor.
Rumors have been circulating within the press for months that the marriage had become a rocky one with reports that the two had started communicating via their personal assistants.
Ritchie will apparently move out of the couple’s London home and move into the Wiltshire, England mansion also owned by the pair.
The Sun said that Madonna had soured on the idea of English life, deciding she didn’t really like hunting and going for pints of beer with her hubby at the local pub.
Exciting stuff.
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‘High School Musical’ not at the head of its class
It’s hard to believe that in a country like Britain, where pundits constantly lament American cultural influences, there could be so much hoopla over this week’s UK premiere of “High School Musical 3.” But advance box office sales have been at record levels. Indeed there is so much hoopla that the London Times newspaper felt compelled to run a list of the top eight musicals of all time that are set in school.
According to reporter Sarah Ebner, the top of the list isn’t Grease… but…
1) Fame “I can’t help it. I know that I’ll probably get lynched (figuratively, if not literally) for not putting Grease first, but I absolutely loved Fame — the film and the spin-off series. The soundtrack was fantastic, the characters seemed real, and the film was a perfect mixture of energy, glamour and grit.” 2) Grease 3) Hairspray 4) High School Musical 3 “The latest installment in the Disney phenomenon knows just how to push all the right buttons. It’s got a real heart, catchy soundtrack, brilliantly choreographed dance numbers, and just enough drama to worry the youngsters a little, but not too much.” And it features teen heartthrob Zac Efron. 5) Babes in Arms 6) School of Rock 7) Rock N Roll High School 8) Footloose
And there you have it. The top eight musicals set in schools, according to the Times. (Giving this some thought, these might be just about the only musicals ever set in schools.)
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Some Europeans are gloating over America’s economic crisis
“The End of Arrogance,” chided Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper. “America Loses its Dominant Economic Role.” It seems that America’s financial crisis — which of course is also the world’s crisis — has at least some in Europe laughing all the way to the bank.
The article, written and reported by several reporters, said that a new America is on display these days — “a country that no longer trusts its old values and its elites even less: the politicians, who failed to see the problems on the horizon, and the economic leaders, who tried to sell a fictitious world of prosperity to Americans.”
Also on display, according to the article, is the end of arrogance. “The Americans are now paying the price for their pride. Gone are the days when the U.S. could go into debt with abandon, without considering who would end up footing the bill. And gone are the days when it could impose its economic rules of engagement on the rest of the world, rules that emphasized profit above all else — without ever considering that such returns cannot be achieved by doing business in a respectable way.”
Of course Der Spiegel isn’t the only newspaper that’s gloating at U.S. misfortune. London’s Guardian newspaper also wrote this week that the global financial crisis will see the U.S. falter in the same way the Soviet Union did when the Berlin Wall came down. “The era of American dominance is over,” wrote John Gray.
He said that a historic geopolitical shift has occurred. “The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over,” he said.
And he seemed pretty pleased about it.