American Politics: The World View
By Abigail Haworth
SINGAPORE
Angela Sim, 31, marketing executive
“If Arnold can be governor in the U.S., anything is possible, so I won’t be surprised if an African-American or a Mormon becomes president. Singaporeans don’t even bother about Singapore politics, so most can’t tell the difference between a Democrat and the other side in American politics. I think the new presidency has to resolve their current high consumer-lending rates. It’s quite scary how ‘overspent’ the Americans are. And their pension system, too — where people sit on their porch the whole month drinking and awaiting the next month’s pension. Isn’t it draining on the actual working workforce?”
THAILAND
Supattra Vimonsuknopparat, 38, mother
“Educated Thai people admire the American system of democracy and want the same for our country, but few people admire George Bush. As Buddhists, we hate war and aggression, and we all think the invasion of Iraq was a terrible mistake. America has lost its ‘hero status’ for many people because of that. When I was growing up in Bangkok, everyone loved America because of its movies, music, fast food, and so on, but that’s changed. Now we live in a more global society with a lot of other influences from China, Japan, Europe, and even the Middle East. America is not so important anymore.”
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