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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be sick and tired of the US election coveage..

26 replies

Itisnoteasybeingdifferent · 08/11/2016 08:43

We have had wall to wall coverage for the past two years. And the next week will be dominated by post electoon analysis..

Yes the POTUS is one of the most powerful people in the world.. Whoever gets the job will have an effect on us. But we can't vote. So it makes no difference to us until after the result is announced.

By comparison, the appointment of the Chinese and Russian presidents get little coveage.. Yet Putin is actively ramping up military tension and the Chinese are putting millions of people out of work by undercutting western costs by ignoring H&S and workplace practice.

Rant over...

OP posts:
paxillin · 08/11/2016 08:50

Oh but it's over now. Watch the all night coverage tonight, one day wonder tomorrow and you're done. In March comes the "100 days of president X" panorama and that's it.

Original poster
Itisnoteasybeingdifferent · 08/11/2016 08:53

I will be sound asleep...
Taking account of the time lag, the voting still goes on till late tomorrow our time...

OP posts:
EdmundCleverClogs · 08/11/2016 08:55

Is a bit late for this thread, isn't it? It will be over by tomorrow. I'm not sick of it. I'm still shocked at the fact the far right is gaining such support on the world stage. People like Donald Trump should have been shut down before they even started a campaign, yet tomorrow the racist, woman hating man may possibly be one of the most powerful and dangerous people on the planet. I want to know about that.

Britain should know about it, if it wasn't for Brexit, he may not have had the level of support he has. Our country opened the floodgates, we can't just put our fingers in our ears and say 'don't want to know'. Russia and China obviously bring their own issues, however 'democracy' tends to have a different meaning in those countries. The issues are that their idealisms of how to run a country seems to be spreading out, instead of dying out as it should. That's why this election has had so much attention, we don't need another Russia or China...

AuntieStella · 08/11/2016 09:00

I watched BBC Breakfast and they had an enormous amount of very irritating coverage of what was essentially a one line story 'voting is underway and the opinion polls are too tight to predict the outcome'

I had to turn it off, because it was just so boring. I can see that watching the result unfold would be rather more interesting, and expect extensive analysis of the outcome.

But this amount of the coverage of the simple fact that the polling stations are open is Too Much.

alfagirl73 · 08/11/2016 09:07

On the contrary, not being able to vote doesn't mean it's not important or that we shouldn't follow what is happening. I lived in America and wasn't able to vote - it still mattered and I still followed the process keenly. In fact, I've been quite shocked at the volume of people in the UK who apparently don't care, like they don't think it's anything to do with us. This is the biggest job in the world - to my mind, it's my duty to care and to be aware of what is going on. I have many friends in America and while I cannot vote, I can still hold a view, consider the implications of the vote on the rest of us and watch what happens with great interest and concern.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 08/11/2016 09:08

Coverage of Russia and China? Really? You think they have any real democratic process that's comparable?

BakeOffBiscuits · 08/11/2016 09:15

I'm with you op.

And it's not just the election.

I listen to radio 4 all day and it seems every second "expert" is American, programme after programme has American guests.

I've nothing against Americans but they aren't the only other country in the world!

alltouchedout · 08/11/2016 09:16

Chinese election coverage would be... odd.

meditrina · 08/11/2016 09:18

"Coverage of Russia and China? Really? You think they have any real democratic process that's comparable?"

It doesn't have to be comparable to be newsworthy.

And one can care about an election without wanting wall-to-wall coverage of a non-story that voting is taking place and that the candidate leading in opinion polls does so with only such a thin margin that it could go either way.

paxillin · 08/11/2016 09:19

voting still goes on till late tomorrow our time

I don't think it does. At 4 am all but Alaska are closed I believe. The first ones close at midnight tonight. Obama was called before 5am.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 08/11/2016 09:35

med but it's hard to create a year of wall to walk coverage out of the Chinese Communist Party having a meeting to decide the next leader. There was some coverage of Putin's machinations when it happened but there isn't much uncertainty or news around those processes.

blaeberry · 08/11/2016 09:41

Fortunately the American president isn't as powerful as is sometimes presented. They are not electing a dictator. Obama found it very difficult to achieve anything.

Allout · 08/11/2016 10:19

Well I've literally just discovered what POTUS stands for after reading this so there's always that Blush

I can't believe it has taken this long. ...Blush

meditrina · 08/11/2016 11:28

"it's hard to create a year of wall to walk coverage out of the Chinese Communist Party having a meeting to decide the next leader....."

But it would be about as interesting as the repetitive news has been today!

'it is right that this is covered' is not a synonym for 'all aspects of the coverage are good'

The choice to have such extensive coverage this morning - when there is nothing really happening other than the vote taking place - does not seems a good one.

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 08/11/2016 11:38

Could Trump have been "shut down"? Is that not kind of undemocratic? Ideally of course you would have wanted people to splutter with laughter before he came anywhere near the nomination. That didn't happen for a thousand interesting/ disturbing reasons, that's the issue and that's why this election has received even more coverage than usual.

Turn the TV* off and go out and do something less boring instead

*or whichever media applies

AlexaTwoAtT · 08/11/2016 12:23

YABU

It happens to be a tad important.
Hmm

BeALert · 08/11/2016 12:39

I'm sick of it too. It goes on for too long.

But I do feel happy that today I'll vote in the first female president.

MaxieK · 08/11/2016 13:08

YADNBU except it can't be as bad for you as it is for us who live in the USA. It's been two long long bitter years of constant electioneering. I told my husband I can't wait until tomorrow morning for it all to be over, just as I was saying that a newscaster announced that there are some candidates already preparing for the 2020 run...

Topseyt · 08/11/2016 13:20

Normally I would agree with the OP, but mainly because American elections seem to be a very long and drawn out process.

This time though, I am somewhat drawn to it. Really nervous that Trump might just squeak in, but hoping like crazy that he doesn't because he is such a slime ball. Trump elected as President so soon after the vote for Brexit would just about confirm 2016 for me the most bizarre and crap year in living memory for world politics.

ShelaghTurner · 08/11/2016 13:45

I'm drawn to it too. For the first time I have a close American friend who I talk to every day and it's interesting hearing about it in reality as opposed to on the news. I've never had any links with the US before now.

WanderingNotLost · 08/11/2016 14:12

At lead it'll be over soon. I'm sick to death of the endless Brexit coverage, and that (much like Brexit itself) is going nowhere!

MaxieK · 08/11/2016 14:42

Blaeberry, Obama has been up against a majority opposition congress, Trump, if elected (gawd help us all) will have the support of that same congress in implementing the platform of the party he's running for. They can (and hopefully will) work to contain and dilute his more outrageous policies but he won't face anything like the same obstructionism that Obama has. HC will find herself in much the same position Obama is in, she's gonna have to fight to get anything through. It's bloody scary.

BeALert · 08/11/2016 15:22

Right - which is why the Senate race is actually just about as important as the presidential race, this time round.

Democrats have little chance of regaining the House, especially given all the gerrymandering that has happened, but they do stand a chance of winning the Senate.

If they win the Senate, they have more chance of appointing Merrick Garland to Supreme Court, meaning they then have more control overall.

US politics is about much more than just who is president.

Allthebestnamesareused · 08/11/2016 20:36

And let us not forget that Kanye West said he would stand in 2020 and we all laughed at the time - but now he looks like a better option than Trump!

Pluto30 · 08/11/2016 20:39

YANBU.

Thank heck I'm at work today and won't be subjected to the coverage non-stop.

I normally love elections, but this one is ridiculous and has gone on too long. We had a 6 week election campaign in Australia earlier this year and it was the "longest" in our history. The amount of times they crapped on about the too-long election campaign, I couldn't tell you. But it looks positively blissful by comparison to the 12-18 month long US campaign.

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