Canada's Obama crush

By GottaLaff

I've always loved Canadians (Kirsten, are you listening?):

If Canadians were allowed to vote in the U.S. presidential election, according to a Harris-Decima poll, 55 per cent would mark their ballot for Barack Obama, while only 15 per cent would support Mr. McCain.

Now that makes sense!

On the face of it, this makes no sense.

Wait, what? Okay, Canada article, explain yourself:

Self-interested Canadians should probably be backing the Republicans in this election. Mr. McCain defends and supports free trade, while Mr. Obama has vowed to renegotiate or even rip up the North American free-trade agreement. Mr. McCain came to Canada in the middle of an election campaign to make exactly that point to American voters.

He would. Party pooper.

That Canadians themselves have no time for his message, that they support a Democratic candidate who could visit great harm upon the Canadian economy, might be a sign of Canadian foolhardiness. It might also, however, reveal a deeper wisdom.

I've always said, "Canadians have a knack for deeper wisdom." Okay, I haven't, but it was apropos to this part of my post.

Canadians may see Mr. Obama as the prime minister they never had.

Awww! That made me all misty! Ooo! Ooo! Have you heard the one about the drunken Homeland Security official?

Figures in the Department of Homeland Security view Canada with a suspicious eye. At a gathering a few weeks ago, I chatted with a very pleasant woman who was joined by her rather drunken husband, a mid-ranking official in Homeland Security. When he learned I was a Canadian journalist, he growled: "You guys let a lot of people in and you don't know who they are."

That was fun, but what does it have to do with Canada's Obama crush?

[I]t should be obvious that, for Canada, Mr. McCain is a preferable choice — an experienced, multilateralist free trader who could be counted on to protect NAFTA and who would be sympathetic to Canada's interests, should Congress start to get ugly.

And yet for so many other reasons, which are every bit as important as they are intangible, Canadians identify with Mr. Obama.

The crush! What about the crush? Why is Canada batting her eyes at Obama?

The most obvious reason is that Canadians are Democrats, except in Alberta. It has been said that the greatest contribution Canada could make to global civilization would be to allow ourselves to be annexed by the United States, thus ensuring Democratic administrations in perpetuity. So when Mr. Obama speaks of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, when he calls for greater public involvement in health care, when he promises to fight global warming, he is promoting policies and espousing values shared by some Americans but most Canadians.

Finally. Geez, that was worse than watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy. What, there's more?

More important, Mr. Obama epitomizes the multicultural present that Canada celebrates. [...] Mr. Obama shouldn't belong to the United States. He should belong to us.

Hey! He's ours! And don't you forget it! Barack...? Call me? I need you!

And perhaps at an intuitive level, Canadians understand that America needs Mr. Obama. The country is in a funk.

That's better. For a minute there, I'd nearly lost hope.

Whether or not Canadians grasp the specifics of Mr. Obama's platform, they seem emphatically to buy his message of hope and change. [..] Canadians support Mr. Obama despite his disquieting talk on trade because Canadians want change they can believe in too, and can't find it in any of their own leaders.

Tell me about it.