Leadership Envy

If only we Canadians could vote in the current US primaries and ultimate election in November 2008.

Seems that Canadians are watching the US political scene more than usual these days. It is very easy to find someone who wants to share their opinion on who has the edge currently , how their favorite would reestablish America in the eyes of the world, etc.

The keen interest in the US political scene intrigues me. Why are Canadians so interested ?
I believe the answer is very straight forward. Envy.

Don’t get me wrong, the envy I am talking about here is relatively narrow. Canadians are very aware of their current strengths economically, relating to universal healthcare, having not gone to war in Iraq, etc, etc.

The envy here related specifically to leadership. We envy the Americans because they have high quality leaders in the race who people can not only relate to, but actually look forward to being lead by. Further it seems that people are participating in democratic process (voting) in record levels.

Wow ! How good it must be to be excited about an election and the candidates running. We in Canada can only dream in the short and medium term.

Unlike our neighbors to the south, we observe the now monthly games of "if you do not support this or that, we will be forced to call an election" chicken between the overly confident minority federal government and a very weak opposition.

I can only hope that the leaders in Canada are also intrigued with the US political scene. Further, I hope they can see the unprecedented engagement of the electorate.

I believe we will, in the next 5 to 10 years, have the opportunity to fully engage in the democratic process and cheer on our favorite top quality charismatic candidate.

Until then, when it comes to political leadership, we will live vicariously through our neighbors to the south.

Dan MacDonald