Clinton bis

One of the funny things about this campaign is the use made by Hillary Clinton of her husband, Bill. As few may know in France, Hillary is not really popular here. There is a big risk for democrats if they nominate her that she will not be able to get the vote of the most moderate voters who might prefer voting for McCain or Giuliani.

Right now is one of the most important time of the presidential race. At the end of the month, candidates must declare for the first time how much money they have raised.
This is extremely important because it is an early sign to demonstrate how capable you are to finance your political campaign. During his first campaign, Pres. Bush surprised everyone by raising more than 7 millions dollars twice as much as its next immediate follower John McCain.

As a result, Hillary is using her husband in order to help her raise as much money as possible before the end of the month.
This move is important because I don't know how much she can capitalize on her husband who left the White House after a succession of scandals.

Blue Ridge Parkway

 

I have to say the Blue Ridge Parkway is extremely beautiful. The Parkway is a road that travels through the Appalachian mountains of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. This is a very scenic drive. Of course, it is referred to as America's favorite driveway.

The road passes near Asheville and Boone in North Carolina and Roanoke in Virginia.

The scenery is absolutely stunning. The light is incredible and the reflection on the mountains really makes them look blue.

We had the opportunity to drive a little bit on the parkway during our visit to Asheville.

The picture I took last week end do not really show the beauty of the site, but I hope that they actually give you a good idea of the views you can have driving on this fantastic road.

 
 

Asheville, NC

 
Asheville is a cool little city nested in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

It is about 4 hours away from the Raleigh/Durham area.

The city is really cool. The downtown was built in the 1940's and never destroyed afterwards. The buildings are gorgeous and nicely proportionated. There are cafes with terraces (the only real thing that I miss from Europe) where we lounged during the evening. It is very nice to see a lively downtown with people actually living in it. It is so rare in the US where the downtowns are either depressed areas or transformed into office parks.

The art scene is also really active. There are several art galleries and artists in residence. We saw a really cool chandelier made by a local glass blower but unfortunatelly the cost was prohibitive: over $10,000.
Next time!


 
 

Asheville, NC part II

 

 

 

 

EU's 50th Birthday

This week's issue of the Economist offers a very interesting analysis of the European Union. My favourite magazine recalls that, despite the fact that today the European Construction is kind of stopped, the European construction has been a tremendous success. The newspaper is pretty optimistic and adds that there is a lot to celebrate. As an European enthusiast, I totally agree with this analysis.

Of course, the rejection by French and Dutch voters of the Constitution should not be underestimated. But, as pointed out by the magazine, I personally believe that in the French case at least, it had a lot more to do with the poor economic performance of the French economy than to the EU. Had the France been in a better financial situation, I am sure that the result of the referendum would have been different.

This, of course, is not the fault of the EU, but of our national politicians (our president in particular) who have failed to enact the proper legislations which would have put France back on track to economical prosperity.
I am particularly quite resentful towards J. Chirac who has, in his 12 years tenure, not accomplished much. The country is more or less in the same situation than the one he found when he arrived to power. Unemployment is still high, racism and antisemitism have not been defeated, deficits are still growing, the economy is not expanding fast enough, and so on.
In other words, I won't regret Chirac.

Photo from the Economist.com

Josh McRoberts

Josh, a sophomore, has decided to leave the Duke basketball team and go pro. He will enroll in the 2007 NBA Draft.
As I said in a previous post, Josh is probably the most talented player of the Duke team. We'll miss him next year.

It will be tough to find someone with his talent.



Photo from newsandobserver.com

Elizabeth Edwards

Today, in a news conference, John Edwards, a political candidate for the US Presidential election and his wife, Elizabeth Edwards have announced that she is having an another cancer located in her bone. She was already a breast cancer survivor. Of course, this one is a resurgence of this past cancer she had.
Unfortunately, her bone cancer is already a stage 4 cancer which means that it is an already pretty advanced form of the disease.

I have to say that I was impressed when she announced very calmly that despite the fact that this cancer was not curable but only treatable, she was going to continue the campaign for the election.

On Larry King live, tonight, there was several interviews including the one form Sheryl Crow. This was of course very emotional. Sheryl Crow is a cancer survivor and now one of the most public figures involved in the fight against cancer.

The campaign is going for sure to be very exhausting for her since she has to travel a lot all around the US and attend meetings and reunions.

On the other hand, her disease might be a blessing for their campaign. This unfortunate news captured national attention and the media are going to be crazy interested about her health. I have to say so far Edwards campaign is not going very well. He is well behind Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Today, I am sure they sent a strong message of courage and commitment to the American people. A lot of people might start admiring them for this reason.

I wish her and her husband good luck.

Photo from salon.com