Obama, Romney look to captain Titanic

          As the American election looms, there is one thing that is certain – American elections are great entertainment.

          Not to say that the last Canadian election didn’t have entertainment value.  The rise of the NDP, the surprising Conservative majority, and the decimation of the Liberals was all very amusing.

          But nothing compares to the two-horse race that takes place every four years in the United States.  Where candidates spend millions and millions of dollars over what would equate to 36 election periods in Canada (2 years versus six weeks!)  Where a candidate’s facial expression in a debate is even more important than what the other candidate is saying.  And where candidates can talk on end for months without addressing any real issues.

          This election is about the economy, like it usually is.  Except in 2004, when it was about Iraq – back when Americans could be led easily into unnecessary wars.  Not anymore.  It’s all about America again.

          For all of Obama’s faults, he didn’t do badly with the cards that were dealt him.  He inherited the worst recession in nearly a hundred years and two incredibly costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He then went on to pass a momentous healthcare bill, one that would address many of the shortcomings of a for-profit healthcare system. While it gets little attention this election, it's one of the greatest acheivements of a Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson introduced Medicare for seniors.  It's no wonder Republicans became upset.  

Republicans, in turn, played upon the fear of average Americans, who worried about being subjected to death panels - you know, like the kind we have in socialist Canada.  Thankfully for the GOP, fear is alive and well in the American psyche.

          Americans know they are no longer on top of the world economically.  The average working salary has been hit hard over the last five years.  Many auto workers, who could at one time earn a respectable wage with respectable pensions, are now divided into tiers – those who were hired before 2007 and those who were hired after.  Those who were hired after receive about 2/3 the wage as those hired before.

          These are some of the ill-effects of globalization and the financial collapse.  Obama did his best to combat the ill-effects with an auto bail-out, while Romney, who made his money off of failing firms, probably felt it would have been better to let the economy do what it does. 

There is something to be said for both approaches, but much like Hurricane Sandy, an unregulated market is an unwieldy and unpredictable entity.  It can ruin lives.

          There is an unspoken mantra in the US suggesting that if you fail, you deserve to fail.  Build too close to the coast, you deserve to get flooded, at least once every one hundred years.  Get sick without adequate insurance, you deserve the treatment you receive.

          Of course Republicans would never say this outright, lest they lose most of the middle class vote.  They will say they fight for the middle class, while continuing to bless the rich with tax cuts, and continuing to cut the programs that the neediest are dependent upon.

           But I’m letting my own personal bias show through in this otherwise objective rant (yah right!)

          In the face of economic hardship, political gridlock, and ballooning government debt, the United States is sure to provide even more spills and thrills in the upcoming months and years, whoever wins this election.

          Just as the sinking of the Titanic provided endless entertainment, America’s present-day trials and tribulations will continue to feed the news outlets of the world (not to suggest America is in any way going the way of the Titanic, but perhaps is veering a little too close to the icebergs).  Whatever happens, everyone will watch.

And America will continue to enjoy the spotlight.