This time I'll tell you about the biggest show running now, the US elections. They are much more interesting than elections in Canada, even for Canadians, since Canadians leaders don't have intentions to run the world (they only dream about changing the world). Bush is really someone Canadians can unite against. After all, Bush is from the south, and Canada is in the North. They can't understand what he is doing in the east. It is so undemocratic they are not allowed to vote.
The US elections are a huge media production. If you ever saw an American movie about the US president, the speech writers are probably the same people. Even worse, they are the same people who make there living from commercials. There are special moments on American TV, like when they broadcast the parties' conventions or the presidential debates, when the networks give the viewer the feeling that something important is happening. How do they do that? Do they hold the commercials? Exactly the other way: the whole thing is a gigantic commercial for presidency. Take the republican convention for example. It was three days long, made mainly from speeches ("thank you, thank you, thank you too, and you, and you, thank you all, and thank god"), but there are also entertaining Rock'n'Roll, choirs (classic and gospel), and comedy parts. The governor of California ("We are still the lamp lighting the world". "Freedom is only a dream, it's the American dream") is a clear Oscar candidate. Every production of that scale requires talented directors behind the scenes. I really liked how they broadcasted Bush, with a blue shirt, from somewhere in America, where in the background there where guys playing baseball. Is there anything more American than that?
Let's do some slogans analysis. I find the democrats slogan "doing right by America" a bit overcomplicated. It aims to counter "the right is right". If they are right, Bush is either wrong or, even worse, left.
Now, the republicans had hard time in the media. They survived an economic recession, 11/9 (the real thing and the movie) and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They came up with "four more years". Brilliant. First, it is impossible to shout "doing right by America". Secondly, Americans always want more, especially if it comes in quadruples.
I watched the Bush-Kerry debate on CNN and really enjoyed it. It was so professional, so emotional, so well prepared. It was a competition on who can name more states and countries (Kerry), who will repeat more times his main points (Bush), who will stay on stage after the other left (Kerry), and in general, who will confuse the viewers more with numbers and percents (I can't say, they both confused me). When every blink or hesitation is worth thousands of votes, they know exactly what they are going to say, how to move their hands and how to look straight into the camera. Of course it is all faked, and if you read Oliver Sachs book ("the man who mistook his wife for a hat") you know what I'm talking about.
After the debate, the reporters didn't go to interview people on the street. Instead, they were quoting blogs. Another gimmick: they had 20 undecided voters in a room with a remote controls with numbers from 1 (negative reaction) to 10 (positive reaction). The 20 people were asked to react during the debate, and results were presented in real time and kept for analysis (for example, they showed when did males reacted differently from females). I envision the next elections they will connect people to brain scanners, to get something more objective. In fact, why not connecting the voters to brain scanners, show them images of the candidates, and measure sympathy? People will not even be told whom they voted for. They will not have to make a decision (dividing the people), or be in conflict between their head and their heart. After four years, they can change their mind without a cognitive dissonance. Strategic voting (when a voter prefers one candidate but votes for another because the one he prefers has no chances) will be impossible, though this wouldn't solve the problems raised by Arrow's theorem.
So, are there any important issues in this race? The democrats will argue that there are many issues, but the republicans made them irrelevant. It's not as if one of them will retreat from Texas and give it to Mexico, or divide Washington. It is more about which face people want to see on TV greeting them in Christmas.
You can check the official sites of Bush and Kerry yourself. They look like any commercial news portal. Finally, I am sure you want to know who is going to win. I have no doubts that history will repeat itself again.
