O'Brien and Halonen

When I lived in the US my friend and housemate Vlad encouraged me to watch Conan O'Brien's talk show, something I have enjoyed doing once in a while ever since. For quite some time you can also follow O'Brien in Sweden (TV4+), and lately there has also been a buzz about the show in Nordic newspapers. The reason is that for several shows in a row, O'Brien has been joking about the fact that he and the Finnish president Tarja Halonen are true look-alikes (see picture if you are in doubt; pale, red hair, etc). Many episodes have started with Halonen's election commercials.

I watched O’Brien joking around about this last night, for exemple reading fan-mail he has received from Finnish kids. So far, two things are certain. First, they do for sure look a lot alike... Secondly, it is really cool and a true boost for Halonen (and Finland) to get all this TV-time in the US and across the world. Naturally, this will (on average) help Halonen, a true, popular, fantastic social democrat, to get re-elected as president of Finland in January. But the real arguments why she should get re-elected has nothing to do with an American TV-show, read more here.

Finland has presidential elections in two rounds, just like France, and the big question is whether Halonen will get +50 percent already in the first round on January 15th (looks likely right now). According to the stories I have read, O’Brien is now invited to come and visit Halonen and Finland, something that might not happen – but it would be quite a boost for the campaign. Since I know quite a few Finnish friends follow this blog, I hope to get an invitation so that I can take the boat to Helsinki and help distributing some roses and leaflets during the last days of the campaign - whether O'Brien will show up or not. And a Finnish, social democratic, presidential victory party promises quite a looong and fun night. Go Tarja!