USA Election: Brought to You by the Letter ‘O’ and the Number ‘Sixteen-Trillion’

As I happily nurse a healthy US election night CNN hangover,  the world is again seemingly tilted correctly on it’s axis, and the USA is as polarized as ever – split right down the middle like a worse-ever Jägermeister headache.

The two most common narratives I heard from endless talking heads on CNN last night, “Romney brought out the white senior vote..” and “Obama mobilized the Black and Hispanic community..”. All the pundits were weighing in, each slinging hard biases trying to affect the vote. Even our own Brian Mulrooney got in the game! I read a strikingly biased endorsement of the Romney camp by Mulrooney brought to you blatantly by the Keystone XL Pipeline project. The actual headline was “Romney will take it ‘by a walk’ ” which I thought was cute.

I guess we Canadians have learned a few US tricks after all!

The end result wasn’t ever going to be much of a mystery to most thinking folks. It was clearly a gentle landslide for democratic post-modernist common sense. Insert ‘USA, USA’ chant here, but it does speak to a new normal in American politics. the system cannot institutionally marginalize it’s visible minorities anymore. Oh, did I say minorities? Not for long, if you read the demographic and racial trends in major North American cities you’ll see a clear trend line showing the traditional base of the Republican conservative vote is suffering a slide of attrition as the white senior population ages and is being displaced by active young techno-urbanites, black and hispanic minorities. The numbers seemed to have officially crested a tipping point against the forces of the old world and The American Dream is starting to look a bit like a paper brochure in the middle of a new digital revolution.. perhaps even a bit past its expiry date. Certainly as a national vision its needed some ‘color-correction’. I was happy when Obama got elected the first time… and I am happy he’s now officially a second term president.

Besides the string of obvious criticisms on Romney’s religious eccentricities and the usual press fodder on his robotic like disposition during his campaign, the best quote I remember is when Romney said, “..the Presidents remarks tonight are brought to you by the letter ‘O’ and the number ‘sixteen-trillion’..” a quip well placed after he said on the previous debate he would advocate for withdrawing funding support for PBS, the network of Sesame Street which caused a media firestorm and provoked the big yellow bird into the political fray, defending himself from being the main course of a budget restricted presidential thanksgiving at the whitehouse next term.

Watch a few minutes of this clip full of one liners in a monologue by Romney at the Al Smith dinner in New York City… it’s good enough for Saturday Night Live!

As Canadians we have the pleasure of witnessing American politics and learning by example; of what not to do, as we try to balance our own distinct society. On a contrary note, we also suffer accordingly with our largest trading partner when anything goes south (no pun intended). When the tide of US productivity rises, our boat rides the same economic wave.

Here’s a quote that sums it up from iPolitics.ca;  “The United States is the most heavily indebted nation on earth — even worse than Greece. Its political system of “checks and balances” has been delivering far more cheques than balance..”

ROTFL. Seriously. That’s great copy writing. Politics can actually be amusing, you just have to wait around long enough for the punchline.

George Bush. Bazinga!

Seriously though.. after the Prez finished some B-Ball with his mates, he stood up and took the democratic prize of another term. Quite the prize; a $16 trillion dollar back-firing economy apparently half-full of PBS & Sesame Street haters;  no doubt Obama’s first words must have been, “I’m glad that shit is over with.. now back to work everybody!”

Congratulations Mr. President. You’ve earned it, and I have a lot more faith in Obama’s rationalist mind in this current age. It’s time for America to take a more moderate position on people who are considered minorities. Especially hispanics. You can’t have a truly free nation if you treat equal people of any race as ‘lesser’. Thankfully that’s  a lesson we get to export from Canada to our friends down south.  This basic tenet is a beacon on a hill that Obama has clear sight of, and apparently that’s good politics for votes.