U.S. election — It’s all over but for the rage

[Saviolo]

Here's a very interested article on the upcoming aftermath of one of the most surreal and absurd election campaigns ever. The point of view here is from a Canadian newspaper watching from nearby, but not inside. It really does describe the campaign in terms of the craziness that has led us up to now:

But the message-saturated United States, it seems, is tuning out — minds made up, desperate for the longest, ugliest, most expensive, most lie-infested campaign ever to just curl up and die.

The crowds have thinned on both sides as the candidates go wearily through the motions, a mark of mutually stalled momentum, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Get Out The Vote is becoming Get Off My Television.

That doesn’t mean they don’t care. Far from it. On Wednesday morning, there will be rage.

Rage from Team Romney and the millions behind it, many of whom despise Obama in ways that defy description. Or rage from Team Obama’s half of the country, which will declare the White House bought and paid for by the former Massachusetts governor’s billionaire backers.

“We saw two honourable men absolutely pollute themselves in desperation to be president or remain president. Two serious, intelligent, previously honourable men who told untruths, changed their positions, refused to talk about many of the most serious issues we face, instead following advice of apparatchiks — Mad Men, really — who said tying themselves in intellectual and moral knots was the way to win.”

As a media experience, it all began much more enjoyably, observes Robert Thompson, the founding director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture.

“It did get terribly ugly. But before that the Republican primary race enjoyed a life of its own for sheer entertainment value. Whether it was Herman Cain unable to remember what Libya was or (Texas Gov.) Rick Perry freezing up trying to list one of the three parts of government he would eliminate, the country couldn’t get enough,” Thompson said.

“You didn’t need Saturday Night Live to satirize it. The comedy was built in to the real thing.”

I certainly don't agree with everything he says. He indicates at the end that it may not make a whole lot of difference who gets elected (I do not believe that). It certainly doesn't make as much difference as the fringes on both sides believe it will.

Read the article here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/uselection/article/1282236--u-s-election-it-s-all-over-but-for-the-rage