US Election 2008

Ok, so it is a little late to be writing about the US elections, but we didn't have the blog then and it was actually quite interesting being here watching from the outside.

So, one would think that since we are in Canada there would be some interest in the US election but what we experienced here was something akin to a religious revival. We certainly knew that there was interest in American politics here, but we did not expect the level of interest that we experienced. Obamamania was just as rampant north of the border as it was to the south. There were Obama bobbleheads, t-shirts and other paraphernalia in many of the stores. After having to bear the eight dreadful years of the Bush presidency, Canadians and the rest of the world were eagerly awaiting a change. It was amazing to walk around and hear all the excited conversation about a foreign election. There were actual election parties the night of the election! (see the picture below) The buildup to the election was on all the Canadian news channels, so much so, that it threatened to drown out their own general election that was held on October 14. (They did manage, however to get Harper, Bush's "mini-me", re-elected but that is another story) After the election one could almost here the collective sigh of relief as it became apparent that "change" was on its way to Washington.