If one strictly followed the US Media only, You would be led to believe
that Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is only watched, and admired, by the
conservative right.. Not so.. according to Variety Magazine which
reported yesterday that infact Foreign Audiences, especially the
Japanese, are extremely interested (and enthusiastic) of the young Vice
Presidential Nominee.
From Variety Magazine:
Think Americans are the only ones fascinated with the Sarah Palin drama?
Hardly.
“Japanese
men and women are very interested in her,” said Hiroki Sugita, a
reporter with Kyodo News Service, who has been covering the U.S.
presidential campaign, including both conventions……For the Japanese, Palin is the big story, and before Palin came along, it was Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“There
was very big interest in the primary between Hillary and Barack Obama,”
Sugita said. The hook was the breaking of barriers that the contest
represented: Americans were going to nominate either the first African
American or the first woman to the head of a major party ticket.But it was Hillary who generated the most attention.
“When
she was running, it provoked a very big debate in Japan about how far a
woman can go, and it exposed a lot of hidden thoughts both in how men
think of women and how women think of themselves,” Sugita said.When
Hillary dropped out, Japanese readers continued to follow Obama but
were not much interested in McCain until he named Palin as his running
mate, Sugita continued.“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.”Palin’s
speech Wednesday night was “very much viewed” in Japan. Big issues in
the election – the economy, the two wars, the healthcare system -
“aren’t really understood or interesting to Japanese,” Sugita said.
“But character issues are big interest because everyone can join in the
debate.”
It seems as though Palin has perhaps won a greater audience then anyone could have imagined, Palin included.
Foreign policy experience or no… Palin is being received well by the global community which is definitely important when the job entails cooperation of other countries and their electorates.
I say, when the McCain Palin speech moves faster then Obama’s then it’s obviously time for a joint smear campaign to be launched soon (ruining the ‘clean political platform of Obama by the way). However I think a massive win is on the horizon– It’s McCain/Palin and the world knows it.
~J out
(hat tip to Japan Probe)
**Edit:
This is the news article that the picture (above) came from. The article is in Japanese, but it reflects everything mentioned above.
