The Great White Hope

"US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was holding talks with Egypt's top military leaders last night, just hours after calling for them to help smooth the country's full transition to democracy... Choosing her words carefully in the politically charged atmosphere, Mrs Clinton said 'It is very clear that Egyptians are in the midst of complex negotiations about the transition, including the make-up of parliament, a new constitution and the full powers of the President. Democracy is hard,' she said." (Democracy is hard, Hillary Clinton tells Egypt, AFP, The Australian, 16/7/12)

Too hard for Americans, apparently:

"Polls show that voters all over the US are losing faith in their elected leaders. But the 900 residents of Talkeetna, Alaska, say their mayor is doing a great job bringing in tourist dollars and has served in office for over a decade. 'He's good. He's probably the best we've ever had,' resident Lauri Stec tells KTUU. 'He was just in the Alaska Magazine, and he's been featured in a few different things.' In fact, Stec hangs out with Mayor Stubbs most days at Nagley's General Store, even though she notes, 'He's growling at me right now.' That's because the 15-year-old mayor is actually a cat, who was elected to office as a write-in candidate shortly after his birth. In the United States voters can write the name of their preferred candidate if that person (or cat) isn't officially on the ballot. According to locals, residents at the time weren't excited by their candidates, so they voted for the cat 'as a joke'." (Cat celebrates 15 years as mayor, au.news.yahoo.com, 17/7/12)

"AJ Wade, a lifelong Democrat and one of 3 elected commissioners who run Hardy County in West Virginia, fiddles with his bolo tie as he tries to explain the results of his party's presidential primary, back in May. 'People here,' he says, 'would have voted for Mickey Mouse if he'd been on the ballot.' The fictional rodent was not running, however, so they ended up supporting a much less appealing candidate: Keith Judd, a convict serving a 17-year sentence for extortion in a Texan jail. Mr Judd won 58% of the vote in Hardy County to Barack Obama's 42%." (What's eating Appalachia? Many Democrats in the region seem to hate their president, The Economist, 7/7/12)

"[Economist Brett Bartlett says]'US public policy analysts aren't meant to make comparisons with the 1930s, but it is beginning to look like the Weimar Republic.' [Conservative journalist Michael] Fumento's view is equally bleak, though he looks to the Bible for analogy. 'If King Solomon was in the United States today and threatened to kill the baby, you know what the Democrats and Republicans would say? 'They'd say cut the little bastard in half.'" (Radicals push members out on a wing, Nick O'Malley, Sydney Morning Herald, 14/7/12)

Physician, heal thyself.