Japan supports Barack Obama

The Japan section of this joke world map seems to be true

A new poll has determined that Japanese people favor Barack Obama over John McCain in the US presidential election:

Of the 11,131 respondents, 48.6 percent placed their bets on the Democratic senator from Illinois, while only 13.3 percent chose his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. But 52.4 percent said they thought Japanese-U.S. relations were poor. No reasons were given.

18 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - September 12, 2008 at 2:19 pm

Categories: Politics Tags: obama

_kovert

That’s really surprising, I would have thought Japan might fall for Palin just like people did in the US.
Also considering some of the things he has said that relate to Japan, just seems an odd choice.
I can understand how some would say they are dissatisfied with politics in Japan. I think most people are not satisfied with politics in any country.
But why would over half say there are poor relations between Japan and the US? That is really very surprising as I think most Americans feel they have a very strong relationship with Japan.
Logic

This doesn’t seem surprising at all; that the rest of the world had always favored Obama. Still, the opinions of other countries usually never influences the United States. Despite most likely having the most influence, the US doesn’t really take into consideration the rest of the world. At least not in a political sense. lol
Montsan

I don’t really find this all too surprising either considering how much attention Obama has been receiving from the Japanese media as well has the occasional tidbit he throws their direction. As has also been pointed out, the majority of the nations we have regular relations with are in favor of Obama largely due to the poor foreign policies of the current administration.

As for Palin, she has not been around long enough to have gained any noticeable foreign following–though based on some of her remarks regarding foreign policy made yesterday and in the past, I don’t expect any Japanese fanclubs to pop up anytime soon.

It would have been nice had the report elaborated on why exactly the respondents felt the U.S.-Japanese relations were poor, but I suspect part of the problem is that the current U.S. administration’s relations with Japan have been nearly non-existent (though I could easily be forgetting some examples).

_kovert

I was just thinking that since Japan is crazy for anything “cute” they would have jumped right behind Palin.
But maybe the poll was aimed at people who actually paid attention to politics and issues lol.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

” was just thinking that since Japan is crazy for anything “cute” they would have jumped right behind Palin.”

“Jumped right behind” her to avoid her evil gaze?

Are we talking about the same square-jawed, saggy-eyed Palin from Alaska? The grandma?

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/photos/Gov-Palin-2006_Official.jpg

That one?

_kovert

Yes that one…

I don’t write the news, was just going by what I had read.

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=6040

Level3

“No reasons were given.”

There’s Obamania in a nutshell.

I vote not on what the candidates say or believe (or say they believe), but what the results will be if they are elected. That’s what really matters, right?

A Democrat in the White House with a Democrat controlled House AND Senate will be disaster not only for the US, but also for the Democrats themselves, again. It will be a total repeat of 1992. After Clinton was elected, within 2 years, the US people were so alarmed by tax hike ideas and proposals for expensive social programs being formulated by Hilary behind closed doors, they elected the Republicans into control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in 40 years. And compared to Obama the Clintons were moderates. A couple of years with Obama and there’ll probably be a Constitutional Ammendment forever banning Democrats from the White House…or maybe this will be the first big step toward Robert Heinlein style benevolent fascism.

Gridlock is the best form of government for now. Opposite parties in control of the White House and Congress keeps the government from doing much of anything, which is good. Government usually fucks up anything it touches. And any program the government starts never ends no matter how much it sucks. Some people still don’t seem to understand that.

PS. If you notice that your favorite political candidate is also tops in Iran, China, and Al Qaeda training camps everywhere, does that make you feel even a little bit strange?

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

“After Clinton was elected, within 2 years, the US people were so alarmed by tax hike ideas and proposals for expensive social programs being formulated by Hilary behind closed doors, they elected the Republicans into control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in 40 years.”

And what a wonderful state the economy is in now! Huzzah!
Jeff

While I generally agree with your basic premise that government is basically broken and the best we can do is slow it down (“gridlock is the best form of government for now…”), I have to say, you’ve been slurping up far too many republican talking points in your dire prediction of a democrat-controlled executive/legislative U.S.

The stereotypical “Democrats are for tax hikes and big spending via social programs” is basically a short circuit in most republican-washed brains; they don’t even realize that the statement has become utterly illogical and unsupported by the facts. Obama is basically proposing a tax plan that readjusts tax apportionment to raise upper-class tax and lower middle-class tax. If you make over $250,000 a year, yes, you may have a self-interest in voting against Obama. But you are in the VAST minority of people, and are frankly enjoying excessively generous tax benefits (compared to first-world countries’ comparative tax rates) reaped under Bush rebates that you neither deserve nor need. If you are not part of the rest of the 95% of the population, you should be voting for Obama to lower your taxes.

As for government spending…it should be enough to simply say “THINK ABOUT IT” without tons of references. The Bush spending is just out of control. It was similar under Bush I, and you can see McCain/Palin favor continuing heavy deficit spending. This is terribly irresponsible, and is basically making our country so indebted to the rest of the world that our children will grow up never really owning anything they work for. Latest figure I’ve seen is that every man, woman and child is saddled with $150,000 of debt thanks to our willingness to just spend, spend, spend, borrow, borrow, borrow to avoid even a minor recession.

So given that our country has basically on a slippery slope to disaster for the last 8 years, I’m willing to give a complete 180º turn, and see what democratic control of both houses and the presidency can do. It’s been a long time since the New Deal, and frankly we need another shakeup.
http://www.japaneconomynews.com/ Ken

A Democrat in the White House with a Democrat controlled House AND Senate will be disaster not only for the US, but also for the Democrats themselves, again.

Are you afraid they might balance the budget?

madne0

I don’t understand the point of these polls. Can they vote for the US election? No! So why should anyone care?

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Can you vote for any general elections in Japan? No! So why should anyone care? Because if you’re living in Japan, it has direct implications.

Like it or not, the U.S. directly influences the conditions of the rest of the world, positively or negatively. So people in other countries have the right to an opinion. They don’t, however, get the right to a vote.

The Overthinker

Democrat and Republican
Agreed to have an election;
For Democrat said Republican
Had spoiled his nice new nation….
josh

I too find this surprising only because last week (9/5) Japan Probe reported that Japan, or the Japanese media, was taking a greater interest in Palin. Stating in variety this quote:

“She has a strong character and she is also very beautiful,” he said. “She is kind of a role model for Japanese women who pursue a career path and are also a mother and wife.”

(http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=6040)

Regardless, I find it amusing how Japanese would favor Obama, but then support LDP candidates like Taro Azo
Rob

I’m still voting for Toyama Kouichi. Or not voting. Or whatever the hell he said I needed to do.
Zz

Polls (or at least news articles) like this are useless. Even the simplest survey of this sort must ask at least two basic questions:

1. Which candidate do you prefer (if you have more or less of a preference)?
2. Who do you think will win?

Answers to those two questions clearly may be different. The article implies that those surveyed were only asked the second but acts as though they were asked the first.
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=6140 Debranne

I am not surprised. Unlike Palin, Obama is very worldly, but compared to Palin, I am pretty worldly. She likes to credit stopovers as an actually visit to a foreign country. Oh, I forgot she is a foreign affairs expert, that’s never had a meeting with a foreign dignitary. So much for the foreign affairs expertise she doesn’t bring to the table. (I believe, Palin finally admitted she lied about her foreign affair experience) Maybe people shouldn’t care about Japan’s opinion, but they are “seeing outside of the box”. It’s something the average American has a problem with when judging politicians.
concerned Filipino

Nice picture post. I recommend people read Jacob Weisberg’s “What Will the Neighbors Think?” published in Newsweek.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/155117

It’s also worth reading “The unbearable lightness of Republican hypocrisy” written by John Nery, a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It’s funny how some Filipinos know more about the US presidential and VP candidates than most Americans do.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080911-160012/The-unbearable-lightness-of-Republican-hypocrisy

The Republican Party has degenerated quite a bit since Lincoln’s time. Sad.

And then of course, there’s this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg

John McCain really has a YouTube problem doesn’t he?

Japan supports Barack Obama

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