The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The most amazing thing about the election down south is how the most powerful nation on earth can, at its most vital moment, have its election decided by an outsider, a foreigner. The cleverly-timed television appearance of the despicable Osama bin Laden, just days before the ballot boxes opened, ensured the re-election of Dubya Bush. This scribbler, for his sins, spent five years working in Washington, covering the White House for Southam News in the Reagan - Sr. Bush years, and was more than somewhat surprised to discover one fact. If you asked any Canadian what single city in the world received the most tourists annually, most all would suggest ? Paris probably, maybe London, maybe Rome. The answer, to our surprise, is Washington D.C, a city of only half-million, less than one-quarter the size of Toronto. Why this? It's simple (the same reason why Dubya was re-elected.) Americans are the most patriotic people in the world. They fought a war for independence from a colonial power, they were populated from poor immigrants from all over the globe, looking for a better life, and they love their country. (Why did the Canadian cross the road? To get to the middle.) As Americans, they are taught, from grade school, that because of their heritage they must before they die, see their capital. Such the tourist figures. Can anyone imagine anyone in Red Deer, Chilliwack or Moncton thinking it their life mission is to visit Ottawa, home of the snivel servants, where the traffic jams start at 3:00 p.m when they all start home from 'work'.? Yes? No. It's why Osama bin Laden decided the American election. With John Kerry in a virtual tie with Bush in the polls, the bearded guy from his cave reminded Americans of the implied threat of a repeat attack similar to that on Manhattan's twin towers. In times of war (the supposed 'war' against Iraq was like Arnold Schwarzenegger getting into the ring with Woody Allen) Americans rally behind the commander-in-chief. Bin Laden, step up for the applause from the Republican party. We will, of course, leave aside for the moment the puzzlement of why the richest and most powerful nation in history, which has sent a man to the moon, been the only country to drop a nuclear bomb, leads the globe in education, research and military strength, cannot find a nut who is living in a cave somewhere between Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of the more goofy conundrums of our time. X X X AND A FINAL THING An international body of election scrutineers ? who monitor elections in South Africa, Chile etc. ? for the first time arrived to look at the U.S. election, after the Florida fiasco last time. They will ask, one predicts, why the leader of the world cannot devise a system where the guy who gets the most votes wins. Period. A puzzlement.
