Xmen, I mean Xmas
The office party's been announced, and it's got a theme: Hawaiian nights. Terrific. No thongs (flip-flops, for the Americans) or singlets (wife-beaters for the rednecks), but wouldn't you know it? Mambo loud-shirts are eBay-only at this point. A couple of years ago, they decided that Reg Mombassa's designs were too old-hat for the kiddies. The surf-set wasn't buying their gear because it was the same stuff their middle-aged uncool old dad was wearing. Little did I know, and little does the Counsellor know, but that beer tree shirt I got him 'way back in 2000 is now a serious collector's item, worth well in excess of what I paid and climbing steadily. Even eBay doesn't have any of that particular design left, which leaves me with the stubby-chips-and-fags design (if it arrives in time) or my 3-eyed-Jesus-at-the-footy (the miracle of the pies, or somthing) t-shirt. Gotta do it, though. Maybe I should go for the Ned Kelly & John the Baptist one?

(And where's my Obama shirt?)

Who’s Squealing?
In one of the most petty instances of political gamesmanship, we now have the Federal Opposition carping about the Prime Minister’s recent phone call to George Bush over who let slip that George didn’t know what the G20 is? Rudd has denied W. even asked, but because Murdoch’s Australian reported it, Turnbull and crew are treating it as true and a leak, deliberately embarrassing Bush and showing up Rudd as a political fumbler. We’ve got Tony Abbott calling Rudd “cowardly”, even, for refusing to continue to engage the Opposition on the matter.

Frankly, I find Australian parliamentary politics childish in its daily performances. While I wouldn’t put it past Bush not to know about the G20 – a man of such deliberate ignorance, he’s been shown up on a regular basis – and likewise I wouldn’t be surprised if Rudd himself was the source of the “leak”. Here he is having dinner with the editor of the Australian, the call comes in, and, afterward, Kev says: “Jeez, that W., said ‘Who’s that?’ when I asked him about meeting with the G20.” So off goes the intrepid journalist to get a nice piece in for the morning. It’s not a scenario I can’t see happening. But so what? “National Security breach”? I think that needs more explanation than who did or didn’t say what to whom. Can we please move on?

Bali Bombers
I understand the execution of the Bali Bombers, as these men are collectively known, and the reactions to their crimes, trial, sentence, and deaths. It’s Indonesia’s right to manage its judicial system and to impose capital punishment, but I take no satisfaction in these executions, even while I can sympathize with those, due to their own involvement or that of their families, as victims, who do. But capital punishment is less satisfying to me than would be the conversion of these men from fanatics into having an understanding of what their actions really did, both in the direct harm to the people killed and injured and their families, Australian and Balinese, and to those who see their deaths are martyrdom, who are themselves radicalized, a more lasting damage. I’m glad they’re gone, but I pity us all, knowing that there are still those who think a car bomb, a suicide bomb, a gun, a grenade, a war are ever really legitimate options for redress.

Proud, but Underdressed
I have never been so moved by a Presidential acceptance speech as I was today, standing in a room with hundreds of my fellow Sydneysider expat Americans, and nearly as many again Australian supporters, listening to Barak Obama promise to be President for all of the country, even the ones whose trust he had not yet earned, and even while I knew there were so very many who would simply refuse to ever support him. For the African-American Vietnam vet who left the U.S. after his discharge and stood beside me in tears, for the gays & straights of Democrats Abroad Australia, for every Aussie whose regard for America was dashed to pieces in 2000 and again in 2004, this election was momentous, and we all know now not only that we must work harder than ever, but that it can have an effect. We can change the world for the better, because we can change ourselves, we have changed ourselves.

But where's my Obama shirt?

Undecided
Down to the wire, and there are still people making up their minds. I know McCain isn’t Bush – it’s the best line he had in any of the debates – but I don’t believe he’s actually got a plan for being president, other than to be president. Obama, on the other hand, I think has a plan, even if it may be pretty high-level, and I’m sure he’s got the thinkers to pull it all together into the detailed agenda a president needs. What Obama has that McCain lacks, to pick one, is leadership. No, he’s not a secret Muslim, planted by the A-rabs to trap Amurica into becoming an Islamic theocracy. No, he’s not a socialist terrorist redistributionist, and I can’t believe that anyone is still making those accusations as if they’re arguments. McCain’s got nothing but anger fueling his campaign, that and wing-nut Palin hysteria. And I reckon he’s done serious damage to the future of the country by picking Palin as his running mate; certainly, he’s damaged the GOP, dealing a body-blow it’ll be reeling from for the next eight years. Well, good. They gave us Bush – two of ‘em, and one of ‘em twice. But what a shame that Palin’s been plucked from the obscurity of Alaska, where the damage she might have wrought could be curtailed. The idea of seeing her again in four-to-eight years curdles my blood. Unfortunately, Obama’s choice of Biden really only gets us eight years, instead of twelve, as Joe’ll be a little long in the tooth to take advantage of incumbency in 2016. He was a good pick, for the stability he provides, for the reassurance his experience provides, something not on offer from the Republicans, but he’ll only ever be VP, now.

Wednesday, I’ll be out at Slide Lounge, Oxford Street, Darlinghurst for the Democrats Abroad election watch party. Four years ago, the party turned into a wake, but I think this year I’ll need to have taken Thursday off, too.