Having just returned from a jaunt into and around a sliver of America I have just a couple of unrelated observations to make:
1) Nobody knows or cares about what Barack Obama or John McCain are up to right now. Presidential politics simple are not registering. Obama might have called McCain a “cracker-ass mo-fo” last week for all I know. There is some knowledge that Obama is the Democratic nominee which I think arises from the fact that people think that it is interesting that racism in America has been solved.
2) The era of fast food must be coming to an end. The McDonalds and Burger Kings I had the misfortune to dine in were uniformly dirty and poorly run. I have no idea why anyone would eat at these places that have such outward and strident contempt for their customer.
3) The French REALLY saved our asses at the battle of Yorktown. No. I mean it they REALLY saved our asses. I had no idea how big a debt that we owed to France. I knew the rudiments about how the French naval blockade kept Cornwallis from being reinforced, but I had no idea about the huge naval battle that took place or that Washington had to be talked into going to Yorktown by Lafayette or that French infantry troops comprised such a large number of the total number of troops that attacked Yorktown.
4) American teenagers don’t work summer jobs anymore. Russian and Ukrainian teenagers are working them all. I have no idea what American teenagers are up to but it probably does not have anything to do with Presidential politics.