Election Day

Here's a comment from our northern neighbors from a tennis fanatic:

My last comment from Canada before your election. Believe or not, many Canadians are waiting as anxiously as you are for the results and I'm sure many from countries around the world are as well.

This election will determine a lot about the world at large, not just the U.S. I never recall being so tense about an American election.

I had a conversation on Hallowe'en night with my neighbors over a few beers in the backyard after all the kids were in bed. We all felt the same. We don't even want to hope for fear of jinxing what is looking like a positive result. We're all so nervous.

I can't overemphasize to you what a devastating effect George W. Bush has had on the world outside the U.S. Canada recently voted in a Conservative government so we're not a exactly bunch of socialists up here but the U.S. reputation in the world is very tarnished. I saw Chris Rock on HBO and I agree with him that Bush is not just the worst U.S. President ever, he's the worst President of anything including the U.S., a company, the PTA, the chess club etc.

It's time to fix your relationships, reclaim your place as a strong leader and not just a bully and be a force for good again.

6 months ago, I preferred McCain to Bush by a large amount but the way this so called maverick who has always claimed the high road sunk to Rove like tactics was disgusting. I now see no difference between the McCain team and the Bush team. McCain is smarter and that's about it.

A leader wouldn't have chosen Palin as his running mate under extreme pressure from the right wing of his party. Who the hell else were the right wingers going to vote for if he chose Lieberman as his running mate. McCain's reputation is significantly diminished by this campaign. He's shown that he'll be manipulated by party pressures and he's not the man I thought he was.

On the other hand, it's easy to take the high road when you're leading. Roger Federer was a lot more gracious winning 3 slams a year than he became in 2008. Obama has had the luxury of being able to be Federerlike. Nice if you can do it.

A friend quoted a stat the other day that I haven't researched. He claimed that 80% of people outside the U.S. would vote for Obama if they were Americans. This feels about right to me.

From Canada and speaking for the world.

Vote Obama. Please.

Amen.