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What do journalists do when they want to know what the average Joe thinks about a certain topic? Right, they ask a taxi driver. So that is exactly what I did to find out how Germans feel about the presidential race. On a brief and pleasant ride in Bonn, I asked my driver, Heinz-Gert, what he thought about the U.S. election and who his favorite candidate was. Obviously when you ask a stranger about a political issue – or any issue for that matter – you never know what you get. So I was secretly hoping for a useable answer. I wasn't disappointed. Heinz-Gert is definitely rooting for Mrs. Clinton. "Hillary has that special something you need for this office." When I asked, whether he thought that her gender would influence voters, he said: "No. She has a lot of experience and is simply qualified for the job." That, according to Heinz-Gert, is just what Barack Obama is lacking. "He seems to young." What about John McCain then? I attribute it solely to his politeness, but when I brought up McCain, Heinz-Gert smoothly switched the topic of conversation to the weather. Everyone in the Cologne-Bonn region beware: At the end of the week a cold front is approaching. One minute later we arrived at my home. I paid and Heinz-Gert pointed out that he was a 30-year veteran taxi driver, a factoid I was welcome to use in my post. |
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