As a propaganda channel for the US, the BBC has been giving wall to wall coverage of the National Convention of the Democratic party which chose Barack Obama as its candidate for President of the US. I watched Obama's speech this morning and it was wonderfully stage managed. Obama is a consummate actor and a great speaker taking the audience with him. He promised a lot of goodies for everyone. He is going to lower taxes for 95% of Americans, he will provide cheap education for children, he will provide better equipment for the Armed Forces, he will provide health care for all, he will ensure that the US is not dependent on Middle East oil within ten years ( is he angling for a second term even before being elected for the first? ) by giving tax incentives to altenate sources of energy and to car companies to produce fuel efficient cars, he will give tax benefits for small companies to prevent outsourcing of jobs and he will provide college education for soldiers under a sort of GI bill. Father Christmas could not have put it better. And how is he going to pay for all the goodies he is going to dish out? He had the answer. He is going to read every line of the budget to cut out waste from the government. Wow. Anyone to nominate him for next year's Nobel Prize in economics? I would still give him the benefit of doubt if he were not a lawyer and we all know that lawyers are liars who would say anything to suit the circumstaces. Would he really slash pork barrel projects if Democrats were in trouble in two years time? With the US running up trillions of dollars in debt he made no mention of balancing the budget which was, perhaps, the greatest achievement of the last Democratic Presidency under Bill Clinton so wantonly squandered by George Bush. A lot of hot air certainly, unfortunately not much information.