Ordinary Dubliners want to talk about the coming election for the US Presidency, given any excuse. In fact, the Europeans we meet want to talk about the coming election, given any excuse.
And everybody talks about the American economy, but especially Americans.
All that is by way of introduction to two podcast episodes that I found fascinating and accurate in representing the mainstream of English-speaking European thought about the US.
- Open Source: “As Others See Us” (direct link to mp3)
- An Open Source podcast episode, produced by Brown University (in the US), featuring Godfrey Hodgson from Oxford. Within the theme of Nixon’s campaign in 1968, Hodgson articulates a dominant, moderate, intellectual view of US politics from Ireland, the UK, and most of the Continent.
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BBC Radio Ulster: Everyday Ethics, 21 Sept 2008 (direct link to mp3)
- An episode of Everyday Ethics, a podcast from BBC Radio Ulster that is far broader than its title suggests. The episode contains three stories, and the first and third are interesting perspectives on current American issues. The first story is a panel discussion of the root causes of the international credit crisis. In the third story, the BBC’s North America editor “makes the case for giving America a second chance.” The second story is about near-death experiences. It’s nice enough, but not relevant to the theme of this post.