Hagia Sofia and Politics

Miiiisssaaaaa! How I wanted to teleport you to where I was... although you would have been pissed cuz it was like 4:30 in the morning your time. But still. Anyway I wrote all about it in my other blog. Thought I'd upload this video here though. Sorry it's a little bit purple at times. It's an effect called "fringing". Anyway, I would love to talk with you sometime about my experience there.

With all the excitement there is not a lot of room for politics. Even on the news here, it is second to Fenerbahçe defeating Sevilla the other day on penalty kicks to advance to the quarterfinals in the UEFA Champions League. Still, I thought to check the results of the election in the morning yesterday. A bit disappointed I was, but not completely bummed out. Though Hillary got a decisive victory in Ohio, her win in Texas was by a very slim margin. Those were relatively easy states for her to win and yet they were not knockout blows.

My opinion of Hillary has only gone down since I have heard the speeches and watched the debates. Her best argument and the one she puts forth a lot is that she has all this experience. Not to mention the "first man" also has a lot of experience and is well liked. However, experience is useless if you do not draw the right decisions from it, and when it came to making a big decision like authorizing the war in Iraq she made a horrifically bad call. Whereas Obama voted the way I would have voted. I just don't trust her ability to stand up to special interests, to not cave to strong external political pressures. One thing that I think is key to the success of the United States is earning some respect abroad. I think it will be easier for a black, hawaiian-born Indonesian man to gain the respect of the muslim world than for a priviledged white woman to do that. Maybe Bill can help. I dunno. Last thing I'm going to say on the matter... I hate dynasties. Who will be it be after Hillary? Chelsea? What will she say? "Oh I have so much experience playing in the White House, campaigning for my mom..." I dont think two families (Clintons, Bushes) should control the country for 3 decades. This country set a cap on consecutive terms served as president to 2 to remove the possiblity of the country being monopolized by a single ideal, a single set of values, a single world view. Though a Clinton dynasty does not strike as much fear in me as a Bush one, I still value diversity in government.

Ok, more on my life and the happenings here in Turkey at the other blog.