I’ve Had Exactly The Same Thought
All — day — long.
I’m not sure which I think is the more ridiculous,
- Canadians feeling the necessity of traveling to a foreign country to watch them swear in a new leader
- Canadians holding inauguration parties for a foreign leader
- Canadians taking the day off from work to watch a foreign country swear in a new leader
- Canadian news networks doing all day long, wall-to-wall, coverage of a foreign country swearing in a new leader
- Canadians using the phrases like “we have a new president“1
– and while we’re airing inauguration frustrations can I ask that we please drop the phrase “the world watched“?
Do you suppose that the people of Gaza watched? Did Iraq (outside of the US military installations) watch? Did Afghanistan (outside of the US military installations) watch? Peasants in North Korea? Zimbabwe? Sri Lanka? Niger?
Sorry to be the bubble burster here folks, but the fact is that some people in some parts of the world watched, but “the world” did not – for the most part the world went about its’ daily business.
—–
1 Heard on CFRA this morning
I got pretty sick of Canadian Obama worship months ago. I actually had a friend of mine say “We did it!!!” on election night. Well, he did put an Obama picture on his blog. I’m sure that must have put him over the top.
I wish the man well. Canada needs an America with it’s house in order. I just can’t bring myself to drink the Obamaid.
I’m betting the people of Gaza know those were American bombs being dropped by the Israeli jets, and thus have some interest in who is leading the US. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan have American troops walking their streets and probably have some interest in who is giving them orders. If the African ex-pats in the office and the other reports I read can be believed, people throughout Africa, even Zimbabwe and Niger, are paying very close attention to Obama’s rise. North Korea and Burma are too forcefully isolated for their starving peasants to pay much attention to anything, but for the rest of the planet, the fact that the US can project power in ways other countries can only dream of, means that it is very much worth their time to pay attention to US politics. It is not uncommon for the policies of the US to have more of an impact on people’s livelihoods than that of their own governments, including ours.
That said, I’ll never make the mistake of saying “we” have a new president. He ain’t ours, we just have to deal with the fallout of his decisions.
LOL. Just posted a comment over at Canadian Dimension. Matthew had posted an important video on the Gaza situation, one which few have taken notice of. So now I’ve blogged about it too, with the dim hope of the video getting the attention it deserves.
Don’t like how easily diverted Canadians are by USIAN goings-on. I wish they’d damn well pay at least as much attention to what’s going on over HERE as they do to what’s going on over THERE.
Stageleft, you are such a freaking downer dude,.. pphhhttttpppppttttt!!!!
Come on, you have to admit when Obama walked on water was really cool,… ok the water was froozen,… and he was skating with his kids,… but still it was impressive
I listened to the stuff on the radio while driving around town (working) to see clients,… ok I PVR’d it too, but just want to watch his speech. The rest of it I don’t care about,… unless he announces an executive order to arrest Bush and Cheney for War Crimes.
Party ends tomorrow, for Obama the nightmare of fixing Bush’s America begins tomorrow, I feel sorry for the man, and I wish him all the best, cause he’s going to need, skill, knowledge, hope, luck and a lucky rabbits foot for the next four years
SL, I hear there is a great party at your house this weekend and that you will be serving spring water and showing pictures of Gaza. Sorry I can’t make it, but all my North Korean peasant friends will be there.
“…the fact is that some people in some parts of the world watched, but “the world” did not – for the most part the world went about its’ daily business.”
Ahh, but you nit pick, SL.
I’m pretty sure you thought that was witty when you typed it Peter – but I don’t get it.
PS: No spring water here, no bottled water either – the bunker filters rather than throw away plastic bottles, get with the environmental times will ya.
Love that cartoon! I was fed up with the Obamarama Canadian love fest that went on throughout his campaign. The media lapped it up 24/7 since his winning the Dem nomination at the expense of covering any substantive Canadian or world news. Seriously, doesn’t CBC Radio have more important things to do than focusing endlessly on their Obama Canadian music play list?
Sigh. Unaccustomed as I am to being the voice of good cheer…
An American President, arguably the most powerful political leader on the planet, does quite a bit to affect the conduct of affairs between nation.
George Bush was a poor President. Apart from specific policy decisions, he enhrined an offensive, blind, ideological style that I despised – anti-rational, anti-science, anti dialogue. He was a polarizer, and proud of it – he boiled US policy down to “either your with us, or you’re against us”. That’s a mantra for five year olds, and he found enough five year olds out there to win two terms.
But now, thank God, America has decided to give intelligence in leadership a try. And although you’re all welcome to your sophisticated cynicism, I will allow myself the indulgence in at least one cheerful thought: there’s now a smart, articulate man running the most powerful country on the planet. And that can’t be bad.
I didn’t watch. I barely remembered. He’s only a politician, and it’s only a new leader. Big whup.
Hey, I have no problem with the self-consciously cynical or fashionably jaded who declare themselves beyond optimism. Your choice. As Frank Zappa once remarked: “Get up in your seats and dance to this one. The tragically hip, as always, will be excused.” (Gord Downey was listening.)
The ones I like best are the ones who write long blog posts about how indifferent they are to it all. Heh.
Good for you, balb. Skimming through the cream of the Canadian blogosphere on both sides, I’m struck by how we are united by hockey and a common resolve to be cynical vis-a-vis the neighbours. Geez, we’re like the gloomy old-style Protestant scowling at the damn papists having another drunken feast day. Don’t they know that Death comes unexpectedly!!!?
As Wolf Blitzer may have mentioned once or twice, this was an historic occasion and surely we can revel at the party.
You guys just don’t get it…
I’m with Balb on this. There is nothing wrong with embracing a new direction that inspires hope in a country that needs it and a world order that requires a fresh outlook that is motivated beyond the black and white, good and evil politics of Cheney, Rove and Bush. The interest in the inauguration both in the USA and around the world was quite remarkable. SL, sorry bud, but this post is curmudgeon pie.
Whooee! Well, I didn’t pay too awful much attention yesterday. I did read his speech an’ then I listened to him give the speech on web video. Good speech. I hear-tell he writes his own speeches so I give’m extra credit fer that.
I reckon you can tell a lot about a new leader by what they do right off the bat. Jimmy Carter pardoned the Vietnam era draft dodgers as his first official act. It was aimed at healing deep divisions in Merkan society. I reckon that gesture spoke volumes.
Now, I see Obama’s puttin’ the kibosh on Gitmo trials as his first big move. Leastwise, he’s tryin’ to. Apparently, the kangaroo court judges can refuse the request of their Commander-in-Chief and his Secretary of Defense.
If Obama gets busy on repairin’ the damage done by the US Patriot Act and DHS, he’ll be on the right track an’ I’ll cheer him on some more.
I ain’t exactly overwhelmed at BHO’s energy and environmental commitment. I took a look at the brand new whitehouse.gov yesterday. They got a page on Big O’s energy an’ environment plans. Short on details and non-existent on any environmental policies other than CO2 and climate change. Obama’s a big ethanol booster an’ I ain’t sure he’s seen the light on that issue. From what I read awhile back in the NYT, Obama and his inner circle are personally invested in ethanol.
Anyways, I give the Merkans credit fer turfin’ out the Repugs an’ fer latchin’ on to a spirit of hope an’ change.
Maybe the world wasn’t watching yesterday but I figger the world’s gonna be watchin’ Bracko pretty close over the next hunnert days, or so.
JB
balbulican
As Frank Zappa once remarked: “Get up in your seats and dance to this one. The tragically hip, as always, will be excused.” (Gord Downey was listening.)
i’m the least hip cat on the planet. Tragically or otherwise. Tragically cynical maybe. I think many people will be disappointed when the hype dies down and BHO reveals himself to be just another politician. I hope I’m wrong.
@nastyboy –
NB,
There is no bigger cynic than me but when a seemingly positive politic force emerges it should be worth celebrating, however fleeting it will be.
Of COURSE everyone is going to be disappointed. Obama is a career politician of the Chicago school. To grab the most powerful political job in the world he’s made deals we’ll never hear about and promises he’ll never be able to keep. Just as John McCain and John Kerry and George Bush and Michael Dukakis did. They’re ALL “just another politician”.
But there’s good politicians and bad ones.
George Bush was a poor politician. Remember what was happening to the Republican party before 9/11? Defections, discontent, muttering about the feasibility of a mid-term internal coup? And post 9/11, he achieved the near impossible – he managed to alienate a shocked and sympathetic world, lost both houses to the Democrats. Frankly, it’s hard to think of a single objective index under which his defenders can claim “success”. Most of the sympathetic URG bloggers bidding him farewell yesterday fell back on some of the tritest, cheapest sentiment imaginable (Shaidle was hilarious…choking back a tear over a picture of Bush slouching away, with…a puppy), carefully avoiding anything resembling an actual reference to his ghastly record of failure.
I give Obama for being smarter, more articulate, more thoughtful, and, at least so far, capable of more sophisticated political thought than Bush’s Texas Manichean. But I don’t expect miracles: does the phrase “Augean Stables” ring a bell? I’ll settle for “less than usually disappointed.”
@Treehugger – I don’t disagree, there’s nothing wrong with America embracing change and hope TH. He|| man, there’s nothing wrong with Canadians being happier that the former idiot in chief is back on his own ranch either.
I fully understand why Americans would dive into this head first – but we’re not Americans, and wall-2-wall Canadian coverage of another country swearing in a new political leader, and Canadians holding inauguration parties for foreign leaders, and the like is daft.
@stageleft –
Grumpy.
@Treehugger – Nope, just tired of people treating America, and the goings on within, as the centre of the known universe.
Except for the fact that you, SL, routinely blog at length about the United States, it’s Government, and what they’re doing wrong on any given day.
So your criticism of people who want to talk about what they’re doing RIGHT for once is a little hypocritical.
You should move to Vancouver sl, then when people refer to “the centre of the Universe” they’ll mean Toronto (which is Canadian, yay!)
Daft indeed.
I have in fact discussed, sometimes at great length, issues created by the United States, I have also discussed issues in and about Canada, Zimbabwe, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Mexico, space technology, Mars, environmental issues, religion, free speech, animal rights groups, political philosophy, political parties, the media (new and conventional), and human and civil rights, to name but a few.
Check the stageleft category list, it’s fairly long, then maybe check your definition of the word hypocrisy because there is considerable difference between what I comment on and holding an inauguration party for a foreign leader or announcing that “we have have a new president“.
Whooee! Right as rain, SL. That’s a dang long list of categories. Ain’t there nuthin’ you won’t spout off on?
I agree about the Canajuns gettin’ all googly-eyed lookin’ south. Bracko’s more worth payin’ attention to than our sorryass PM who’s been on a 8 month vacaction and only got 37% support. Bracko’s ridin’ high in the support department an’ he’s fresh off spendin’ millions an’ millions of Merkan lucky bucks on campaigning. Even though he was campaignin’ in Merka, we watch a lotta Merkan TV and read Merkan magazines an’ newspapers so a part of that bigass PR campaign got through to Canajuns.
I figger lotsa Canajuns wish we had us a smart-thinkin’ agent of change to inspire hope and optimism. It’s sorta like when the neighbours’ kid gets accepted into med school. You feel good fer yer neighbours when good stuff happens to ‘em.
I reckon Bracko’s gonna be more protectionist than Dubya an’ combined with his disdain fer dirty tar sands oil and his pushin’ to keep us in Afstan, we’re gonna have a somewhat testy relationship before too long.
JB
@JimBobby –
C’mon we have many dynamic political leaders to inspire the Canadian electorate. That one pasty old white guy, that other pasty old white guy that looks like a vampire, the other pasty white guy who looks like a used car salesman, the pasty white guy who talks funny, and that pasty white chick with the glasses.
Fair enough SL – accusation of hypocrisy retracted.
However, considering what Obama has begun to do in his first full day in office, many people are celebrating what they see as a step in the right direction. I didn’t attend any Obama parties or take any days off work/school. But I am celebrating his inauguration, and I am optimistic about what he can do to make the world a better place.
When Canadians say “we have a new President” I figure they are just accepting the dominant political and cultural force exercised by the U.S. around the world (and particularly in Canada).
I also see the potential conflict between us and them over issues like NAFTA, Afghanistan, and the Tar Sands as good things – I oppose the development of the Tar Sands, I am not too crazy about NAFTA to begin with, and when it comes to Afghanistan saying “NO” to an American President, even one as popular among Canadians as Obama, will be healthy for National self-esteem and confidence (much like many Canadians celebrated Chretien for saying “NO” to Bush on Iraq).
Balb: “Of COURSE everyone is going to be disappointed. Obama is a career politician of the Chicago school”
Out of curiousity, if we substituted *any First Nations or Inuit person* for Obama and *First Nations or Inuit” for Chicago, how would you feel about that statement?
Or maybe we can change Obama to Patrick-what-’s-his-name and Chicago to the off-reserve group he leads and get the same response?
Or would you prefer to slap me upside the head for being racist or non-Aboriginal or whatever for my question? Because it’s an honest question. Your post appears to me as pure, unadulterated bull, partisan or otherwise, but bull. And a post you would argue, loudly and long, if at least one of the suggested substitutions was made.
Thoughts?
“Thoughts?”
First thought: You shouldn’t be posting at 4:04 am. You’re not making sense. You do understand that I am praising and supporting Obama, and defending those who, like you (I thought) hope for good things from his administration?
“Out of curiousity, if we substituted *any First Nations or Inuit person* for Obama and *First Nations or Inuit” for Chicago, how would you feel about that statement?”
I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. Are you under the impression that I’m commenting on Obama’s race or something? If so, give your head a shake: then do a bit of reading about the democratic party machine of Chicago, which for decades has made the Liberal party at its byzantine worst look like a Sunday School picnic. My point is that every successful politician IS a POLITICIAN, and that Obama succeeded AS A POLITICIAN in one of the toughest political jurisdictions in the world. He is not an innocent. I don’t expect or want him to be. I want an experienced deal maker, negotiator, weaver of compromises between warring factions in that job – all things that George Bush emphatically was NOT.
“Or maybe we can change Obama to Patrick-what-’s-his-name and Chicago to the off-reserve group he leads and get the same response?”
If you’re trying to model respect here, you might use the man’s name. It’s Brazeau. And if you’re trying to say something substantive, you might recall that I have been extremely critical of CAP, and of Patrick Brazeau. Again, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here.
‘Or would you prefer to slap me upside the head for being racist or non-Aboriginal or whatever for my question?”
I have no idea what “racism” has to do with anything I wrote at all, which was an expression of tempered, cautious optimism about Obama. Maybe you could make your point a bit less obliquely?
“Your post appears to me as pure, unadulterated bull, partisan or otherwise, but bull.”
And your response appears to me to be incomprehensible. I’m not sure whether to ask you to apologize, or just to read it again more carefully.
Balb:
While I’m tempted to argue further, life is too short and friends, whether in person or on the net, are too precious to waste on disagreements.
Here you go.
I’m sorry I misinterpreted your comment, and I’m sorry if my response offended you.
Candace
Thanks, C. That is kind and gracious of you.
Just so there’s no misunderstanding, here’s what I was trying to say.
Stage wrote a semi-humorous post about the silliness of the Canadian enthusiasm for Obama, and media’s assertions about the world watching.
I think I was feeling a bit sick of both “They’re So Dumb To Hope” right wingers and the “I’m Too Cynical To Hope” left wingers, and responded that I did, in fact, have hope, tempered with realism.
Obama is more intelligent and more articulate than George Bush. He’s demonstrated real political smarts in the assembly of his administration. He is a politician who survived and thrived in one of the toughest, nastiest political jurisdications in the US, and that’s a GOOD thing. No snark: I WANT to see a President in there who understands deal making, coalition building, and compromise. That’s the job. George Bush didn’t, and his administration (and his country) ended up hopelessly polarized and unable to function.
I don’t expect him to walk on water, heal the sick, or repair the shattered American economy or national spirit. I do think he seems to be a smart, honourable, and brave man, that he was by far the superior choice in the last election, and I wish him nothing but good.