Presidential Elections

Angelika Then you might have also heard in Germany that Bill Clinton gave his last State of the Union address, as his term is soon coming to an end. As mentioned above, there are presidential elections in America. This State of the Union report takes place annually and, as the name suggests, it's about the current state of America. Naturally, the President also uses the speech to present what he intends to do in the future. Clinton will soon have to step down, as a president in America can only be elected twice in a row and then has to make way for a new one. Nevertheless, he threw around reform ideas -- which means absolutely nothing, as Clinton has often been unable to implement his plans, since the American Congress is known to have a Republican majority, which has somewhat different ideas than the Democratic president.

As you might notice, I followed the speech attentively on television. More precisely, I stared at the screen, fascinated by how different such a speech is compared to one in the German Bundestag. First of all, I was once again unpleasantly struck by the fact that in the USA, it is completely normal and even a must to be patriotic. Following the motto: America, the promised land, the supernation that everyone admires. Of course, Clinton has every reason to boast a little, after all, his record is not bad: The state budget is showing a surplus, the country is experiencing the longest economic boom in its history. Crime has decreased, the unemployment rate is extremely low, much lower than in Germany. Millions of new jobs have been created. But the whole thing also has a price, and many things are extremely amiss. Among other things, the healthcare and education systems (especially shameful when you have a budget surplus). And many of the newly created jobs offer extremely poor pay and no social security. It was also interesting that Clinton appeared quite emotional. You could often see tears in his eyes, both from emotion and from sadness. Naturally, he also thanked his wife Hillary for her tireless support, which seemed a bit strange, as his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky is not yet forgotten. Some cynics even suspect that Hillary Clinton will immediately file for divorce as soon as Clinton's term is over. It will be interesting to see.