Asia Media International Founder Tom Plate was interviewed Friday Nov, 4 by the Associated Press of Australia about the coming U.S. national elections Tuesday. The key question was, obviously, the probable effect of a Trump victory as compared to a Clinton victory.
Said Plate, a columnist for the South China Morning Post as well as Loyola Marymount University’s Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies: “I decided to formulate my responses tongue-in-cheek. This election has been notable for excessive non-authoritative commentary, among other annoying things. I chose not to contribute to that depressing trend … well, t least to the extent possible.”
Answer: “What Australian leaders think of U.S. candidates does not have much weight with the American public, for worse or for better.
“In 2007, then PM John Howard’s knocks on candidate Obama stood out because as an staunch backer of the Iraq War, your PM’s credibility for sagacity seemed rather on the low side; and of course your former PM was white and Obama was not and Howard had not won many popularity contests in nearby Indonesia, toward which the then-Democratic candidate had a special warm history. I think I wrote a column decrying his unwanted comments….