Tonight I watched Obama win the US Presidential election and his historic acceptance speech. This felt as historic as the moon landing must have felt, since the US has elected an African American as President for the first time in history. Not only that, many people feel genuinely good and hopeful about having Obama as President. I know I do.
The TV announcers said that there were record breaking turnouts. That made me think about our recent Canadian election. Was it only a few weeks ago? What a difference. This election had the worst voter turnout in Canadian history. Canadian elections seem to come and go like the blink of an eye. I only watch the news occasionally and don't read newspapers often, so I didn't even know who was running or what the issues were. I saw a few TV ads bashing the Liberals on the carbon tax but that was about it. While I was standing in line waiting to vote I still had no idea who I would vote for, so I just picked one. Contrast that with the US election: I knew what the issues were, I knew who the candidates were, I felt strongly about voting for Obama, and even watched several hours of debates and speeches. It's like that every election. I know all about what's going on in the USA, have an opinion, but am completely oposite with our Canadian elections. Something has to change if they don't want the next election to have an even worst voter turnout.
Congratulations USA, I'm so happy to see such a great candidate win and that he is an African American. The times really have changed. I also wouldn't have minded Hilary Clinton as President.
Working from his home office in Toronto,
Ryan de Laplante can be found developing software in
Java by day, and obsessing with technology by night.
Ryan has been designing and writing software for
IJW since 1998 and is very passionate about his work.
