Election on James Sheridan

A Very British Guide to the US Election - part 3 - Joe Biden

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 13:33:56 +0000

Welcome back to my Very British Guide to the US Election, where we’ve been talking about the machinations of the race for the White House. If you’ve missed them, catch parts 1 and 2.

Today’s the day of the Nevada Caucuses, and will be a make-or-break day for some of the remaining candidates. Chief amongst those is probably former Vice-President, Joe Biden. Let’s talk about Joe.

Joe’s campaign is not where his advisors and pundits thought it would be at this early stage. Joe was supposed to be the shoo-in - the obvious choice, with the experience (being a former Vice President ought to be a pretty big boost to your Presidential credentials), the middle-ground politik - shying away from Sanders’ & Co’s hyper-Progressive policies - and with the steady hand to navigate the country out of the Trumpian nightmare. So far, it hasn’t worked out that way at all.

A Very British Guide to the US Election - part 2

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 21:33:56 +0000

This is Part 2 of my Very British Guide to the US Election. If you missed Part 1, find it here.

So, now that we’ve covered our Civics 101, looking at Congress, the President, voting and the Electoral College, let’s start looking at what’s actually going to happen this year.

Donald Trump vs. ??

Presidents can only serve a maximum of two consecutive terms of 4 years, for a total of 8 years. So, if you’re the incumbent, you get to defend your Presidency once, but as soon as you do win that second term, the clock starts ticking down to the day when you will have to leave the White House. When President Obama won his second term in 2012, Democrats began planning who his potential successor would be, and who would run for the Democrats in 2016. This process resulted in an initial 6 candidates, which then quickly dropped to three before the race even got started as challengers withdrew realising they might not have the support required to actually see the thing through, and eventually to just 2 - Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

A Very British Guide to the US Election - part 1

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 19:33:56 +0000

It’s officially Election season in the US. I mean, for reals. It feels like it has been looming, ominously, on the horizon here, like a unavoidable future task that will definitely demand your attention - like a tax return, or a leaky roof.

And, it’s kind of felt like this since the day of the infamous “yuge” inauguration, and the rumbling, lengthy sagas of the Robert Mueller report¹ and the Impeachment trial² were just mere distractions before the real task at hand. November is now only (checks notes) nine months away. This is, I’m assured by every media outlet, pundit and commentator, mere moments away in American political circles. In the UK, we can knock up a snap election in a few weeks (ad nauseam, some might say), but things here are… somewhat slower paced.