The Friday Political Thread: Stuff White Europeans Like

Quote of the Week
"Obama? C'est mon copain. Contrairement à mes conseillers de la cellule diplomatique, je n'ai jamais cru dans les chances d'Hillary Clinton. J'ai toujours dit qu'Obama serait désigné."
– French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Translation: "Obama? He's my pal. Unlike my diplomatic advisors, I never believed in Hillary Clinton's chances. I always said that Obama would be nominated." Especially stinging if you've ever heard McCain gloat that he's "lived long enough to see a pro-America president of France."

The Week in Brief
– Ahem.
– Barack Obama was elected president, apparently.
– He talked to his dad—and you got to hear the conversation!
– John McCain made a play for attention by hinting he'd choose a VP. It was quite annoying.
– Wasn't Arnold Schwarzenegger a future president in Demolition Man? That would explain this.
– Ugh. This happened.

Below the Fold
– George Will gets gloomy.
– Susan Davis and Laura Meckler measure the Nader/Barr effect.
– "John" reviews the Batman saga from a national security perspective. I expect many such reviews.
– W. James Antle III welcomes back the fatalist Republicans.
– James Kirchick hangs with the most evil lobbyists on the planet (by osmosis if nothing else).

The Pollster.com averages are painting the most textured picture of this election, so at the end of these posts I'm going to start updating the latest state-by-state poll predictions. As of today, Barack Obama leads John McCain by 284 to 147 in the electoral college.

I actually think the "media loves Obama!" meme is tiresome, given how much these same people used to pant for McCain, but it sets up this video nicely.