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U.S. Elections 2008

Who will be the next US president?

  • John McCain

    Votes: 8 7.8%

  • Barack Obama

    Votes: 80 77.7%

  • Other

    Votes: 15 14.6%
  • Total voters
    103
I think Hillary's power will shine tomorrow. If not, oh well. People keep talking about the Obama rise and then he runs out of steam at the last minute over half the time.
 
Super Tuesday 2008...

Everyone: With today being Super Tuesday I will make these observations:

Democrats: Either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton may pull out in front. This horserace,though is just too neck and neck to call....

Republicans: John McCain has a opportunity to pull way out in front and be the odds-on favorite leaving Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee sharing the Conservative bloc. Poor showings by either one may cause one or both to even drop out or just hang on-this one should be interesting...

By tomorrow afternoon we should have an idea of who the front runners should be perhaps...it should be interesting! LI MIKE
 
What I find interesting is the obsession many people I know and it seems Canadians in general have with the US presidential election, an election of another sovern nation that has no direct jurisdiction here. I am not for an instance suggesting that it doesn't matter or that the outcome won't have an influence over our domestic concerns but that the debate is often framed as who a person would prefer in office in the US as if they are citizens subject to the policy initiative of said office. We are not US citizens and therefore our interests really lie primarily not in who would make the best US president but who would make the best US president with respect to Canadian interests. These are very distinct issues. For instance a lot of discussion revolves around issues like Iraq, a foreign affairs issue that Canada is not a participant in while North American trade is an issue almost never discussed by Canadians and yet profoundly important to our lives.
 
TrickyRicky said:
What I find interesting is the obsession many people I know and it seems Canadians in general have with the US presidential election, an election of another sovern nation that has no direct jurisdiction here. I am not for an instance suggesting that it doesn't matter or that the outcome won't have an influence over our domestic concerns but that the debate is often framed as who a person would prefer in office in the US as if they are citizens subject to the policy initiative of said office. We are not US citizens and therefore our interests really lie primarily not in who would make the best US president but who would make the best US president with respect to Canadian interests. These are very distinct issues. For instance a lot of discussion revolves around issues like Iraq, a foreign affairs issue that Canada is not a participant in while North American trade is an issue almost never discussed by Canadians and yet profoundly important to our lives.
Click to expand...

Its all about economics, and Canada needs to form larger trade relationships with other emerging markets to become less focused on the US.
 
What I find interesting is the obsession many people I know and it seems Canadians in general have with the US presidential election
Click to expand...


its simple, Hilary, McCain and especially Obama are 100 times more interesting then our federal politicians.


Harper and Dion are like robots compared to those people. Its very boring up here. Also, Canadians are prehaps looking in glee that Americans have finally realized how screwed up the republicans have been.
 
lordmandeep said:
its simple, Hilary, McCain and especially Obama are 100 times more interesting then our federal politicians.


Harper and Dion are like robots compared to those people. Its very boring up here. Also, Canadians are prehaps looking in glee that Americans have finally realized how screwed up the republicans have been.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure I buy that. American politics are like a freak show, whether that is interesting or embarrassing is another question.
 
If it makes you feel any better, we're no more obsessed with the US election that the rest of the West. The UK, France, etc. are similarly transfixed.
 
I support Hillary Clinton.

If Obama wins, I'll obviously support him over the Republican choice regardless who it may be.
 
As a Canadian, I believe Obama is better, mostly thanks to his foreign policy. But as a middle class American, Hillary does have the better healthcare platform, and if I was American, it would be a very tough call.
 
I like CNN's old election music better. What they're using now is too swooshy and Fox-esque
 
its interesting to see a charged election compared to the rather boring exchanges between Dion and Harper.
 
SeanTrans said:
As a Canadian, I believe Obama is better, mostly thanks to his foreign policy. But as a middle class American, Hillary does have the better healthcare platform, and if I was American, it would be a very tough call.
Click to expand...

The American health care system is broken to the point of total collapse if we continue down the road we're currently on. The only reason some wait times are lower in America is because millions of people are denied coverage for basic needs.

There is a big misunderstanding about wait times in Canada vs the United States. US residents still deal with wait lists, such as the 4 months you wait after your HMO/PPO/whatever plan goes through the approval process for a given elective surgery, or possibly longer. If doctors don't receive payment on initial services, sometimes they refuse to followup care if its not what they consider life threatening.

Its very easy to claim a shorter wait list when you have millions of residents that, instead of being put in a line, are just denied care altogether. Sanjay Gupta keeps posting conservative think tank claims on his health care specials that run on CNN, claiming that only 4% of Americans are put on a wait list of 6 months or longer whereas 14% of Canadians are. I have seen studies that suggest something very different. As much as 30% of the American public is turned away from necessary care altogether, and I don't have the link right now. When you need a hip replacement, don't have sufficient insurance, or no insurance at all, and you are turned away/totally denied care its far worse than being put on a 3 or 6 month wait list.

Its a travesty, and that's why mortality rates are much higher across the board in the United States.

http://209.217.72.34/HDAA/ReportFolders/ReportFolders.aspx?CS_referer=&CS_ChosenLang=en

http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/health30a.htm

A sample of mortality rates, rates of death per 100,000 people.

HIV
Canada - 1.2
USA - 4.7

(yes, your eyes aren't kidding you, the rate of HIV mortality is over 400% higher in America due to a total lack of preventative care and anti-retroviral affordability among the poor, yet infection rates per capita are similar between the two nations) This is a national disgrace considering our nation has spent billions in giving AIDS drugs to Africa, yet won't provide universal care for its own people.

Malignant Neoplasms/Cancer - All Categories
Canada - 173.7
USA - 189.8

yes, Canada has a lower mortality rate for all cancers.

Diabetes
Canada - 19.6
USA - 25.1

America has a higher rate of death among Diabetes, a disease where preventative care and access to affordable medications is crucial for survival.


Ischaemic heart diseases
Canada - 96.2 (and if you look at the chart, a huge investment in this area has reduced these rates dramatically in Canada)
USA - 161.2

Okay, so you're damn near twice as likely to die of heart disease in America due to lack of access to preventative care and consistent doctor care that is affordable.

Heart Attack
Canada - 27.7
US - 57.4

Tell me why you are nearly twice as likely to die after a heart attack in the USA? Is US care really superior?



Moral of the story: be very careful what right wing think tanks say about US care. Its not the greatest in the world.
 
heckles said:
Moral of the story: be very careful what right wing think tanks say about US care. Its not the greatest in the world.
Click to expand...

To say nothing about the condition of the American public. (One wonders if, in the event of a subprimed recession/depression of some duration, they'll be seeing Russian-scaled drops in average life span...)
 
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