Personal Politics

With the Canadian election just recently over and vote day for the American election just around the corner, it’s difficult not to pay attention to what’s going on.  One phenomena I had not figured out was (and is) the intense interest in Barack Obama.  A surprising number of Canadians actually would have preferred to vote for the American president rather than their own Prime Minister.

The reason couldn’t have been Obama’s politics.  In the US he is considered to be the most liberal candidate in their history, yet Obama is still somewhat right of centre.  By Canadian standards he is definitely not centre or left.  Obama’s call “Yes We Can” call for change couldn’t have been the reason either.  Of the paltry 59% who chose to cast a vote, the majority of the minority voted for the leader who campaigned on no change because change was too risky.

Then I happened to catch a couple of minutes of the infamous infomercial this week. Watching a few stills and clips I saw a hint at the root of all the Obama craziness.  Here was a man who could genuinely connect with others on a person-to-person level.  People allowed him into their personal space – something that is a rare occurance today. 

With this in mind I looked at the other candidates in both elections.  There was only one candidate that had the potential for this type of connection.  And funnily enough – they were only one of two Canadian leaders that didn’t try to imitate Obama in some way.  The imitations were so blatant they became standing jokes.

There’s a huge difference between being an average person and trying to be an average person.  It’s the kind of personal politics that you just can’t fake.