The fat lady sings


The American election is almost over, and I'm going to miss it. Of course I'm looking forward to seeing the results come in tomorrow night, but this is the first time I've enjoyed watching a U.S. presidential race, without worrying the wrong candidate is going to win.

It's true, I'm a Pollyanna. I like both these guys, and have high hopes regardless of who wins. But I also expect that feeling is going to evaporate at some point next year, as Joe Biden has predicted.

Although it was a tossup before the financial meltdown, the polls now say Obama is going to win. Nevertheless I will say that my first choice is the other one, McCain. In this I find myself in agreement with Charles Krauthammer, whose two part essay on the topic (here and here) I came to by way of Oliver Kamm, who is supporting Obama. My thoughts about the Democrat, on the other hand, come close to echoing those of Peggy Noonan. It's a head versus heart thing.

Most of the writers I follow were appalled by McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his nominee for vice-president. To watch those intellectuals, liberal and conservative, condemn the plebian Governor as inexperienced and unready, while supporting the even less experienced Obama, has been amusing. I like her, for the reasons outlined by Camille Paglia and Victor Davis Hanson.

For a while I tried to keep up with all the "fact checking" going on in the old and new media. Yes, both campaigns were mendacious at times, and often exaggerated, spun or twisted their claims, counter claims, and allegations. Eventually I gave up and simply assumed all charges were true. None bothered me that much.

The biggest losers in the election were the professional news editors and reporters who couldn't control their partisanship. See Michael S. Malone and Stuart Taylor.

The biggest winners were the independent voters, those who refused to support either party and insisted on judging for themselves whom they would vote for. Their numbers are growing, and in this election they have challenged the party faithful for the pivot position.

I wish I could say that the other big loser in the election will be the Republican Party. On the face of it they have been humiliated: forced to accept a non-conservative as their nominee, then losing the presidency and being decimated in Congress. But I fear they will be back, after sitting out the next two to four years. They get to rebuild, while escaping responsibility for what happens next, as the U.S. enters a recession and Obama escalates the war in Afghanistan.

That's too bad, because it is party politics that is the bane of democracy. If the Republican Party were to die, there would be no need for the Democrats either.

This year both candidates, coming from very different perspectives, promised to get beyond partisanship, and unite the country. Their own parties stand in the way of accomplishing this.

I suspect John McCain could have won this election, if he and his friend Joe Lieberman had run as independents. They could have done Ross Perot one better, using the web to raise funds and volunteers, just as Obama has been doing.

Whatever, as a Canadian I am envious of my American cousins and their version of democracy. (See if Canada were a serious country...) And I thank Providence that I'm not a voter in the U.K. or Israel, where the parties are firmly in the hands of the patricians, including the lords of labour, and most everyone is dreading the results of their upcoming elections.

Posted: Mon - November 3, 2008 at 05:48 PM          

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