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Setting the President

Source: Edinburgh Festival Guide
Date: 22 July 2008 (updated 29 July 2008)
Written by: Brian Donaldson

The race for a Clinton and Bush-free White House hots up

On his recent British stand-up tour, Hollywood comic Chris Rock unsurprisingly took much delight in delving into the blazing topic that is the US Presidential election. In particular, he analysed the characters of, at that time, the three main candidates, Hillary, Barack and the other guy. People had said to Rock, ‘is America ready for a black President?’ To which the comic replied that of course it is, after all it’s got a dumb one right now. Admittedly, the word he used wasn’t ‘dumb’, but to print the exact term wouldn’t be fair even on George Bush 2.

In Setting the President, the debate will centre not simply on the impact a brand new leader will have on America (that the incumbent won’t have the surname Clinton or Bush will be a first for a legion of voters), but on how the world will react when the successor to Dubya is voted into office come November. Whatever happens, we are bound for an even more dramatic election than the one which witnessed Al Gore being pipped at the post in 2000, amid the Florida controversy about those pesky hanging chads.

20 Aug, 4.30pm, free.

More: American, Edinburgh Festivals, Festival of Politics, US elections