kEiThZ
Superstar
I wouldn't underestimate Obama's abilities or the American desire for change. So far, the comments suggest nothing will happen. But what if it does? And what if one morning you wake up and the USA resembles Canada, more than anyone could ever have imagined?
Dude,
Everyone on here will truly be amazed if Obama meets all his campaign promises and if the US truly ends up like Canada in 8 years we'll be in awe. You should note that even Obama's platform does not include basic Canadian things like universal health care. He has some form of health care but it ain't universal. And Clinton burned a hell of a lot of political capital trying to get improved health care through. That's partly what cost the Democrats the house in the Clinton era. There really is no real support for universal health care in the US. And that's health care, the Americans are just as bad at public education, subsidized daycare, government mortgage insurance (Fannie Mae is no CMHC), banking and finance sector regulation, public access to abortions, gun control, etc. And Obama has made no promises to address any of those challenges.
It'll be interesting to see how much Canadians like Obama when he comes calling to ask us to contribute more in Afghanistan. And he will. Or what happens, when Harper signs a North American climate change pact that commits the US to just meeting 1990 levels of emissions and Canada to a 2-3% cut below 1990 levels by 2020....that's basically the end of Kyoto.
You might be enthralled by the smooth talker that Obama is but I doubt most Canadians (particularly our Francophone variety - their cultural/language protection laws would be illegal in the US) would want to live in a country that is constantly embroiled in conflict somewhere, exists as a decentralized federation where individuals states fall to the whim of elected theocrats, where democracy is a two-party system, where the individual is prized more than the collective, and one where they are worse on virtually every socio-economic indicator (save GDP per capita). I hardly think that's a society we would want to emulate much less live in.
Just keep in mind, that for every Obama there's a George W. Bush lurking somewhere. Do you really think Obama would have gotten elected if W hadn't messed up this bad? What if W had just stuck to Afghanistan and had not doled out reckless tax cuts? Keep in mind that after all that Bush screwed up Obama still got only 53% of the vote with essentially one opponent (Nader got 1%). And don't forget this is a country that re-elected George Bush AFTER HE INVADED IRAQ AND FOUND NO WMD.
If you want to live under Uncle Sam's rule just remember Obama's term will end some day, and you never know who'll rise to power next. If you want to live under Obama, you have to be just as willing to live under Bush II. Just remember that.
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