It's sad. Obama, who was supposed to be a symbol of hope and change, is instead serving to reveal the truly ugly side of US politics, and yes, Americans. Go to CNN.com or MSNBC.com, read any article about the election, and then browse the reader-submitted comments beneath it. Page after page of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, fundamentalism, blatant lies, false accusations, death threats, logical fallacies, semi-literacy and plain old ignorance will pour from your screen in an alarming avalanche of idiocy.
Many Americans seem to view politics in the same way they view football: pick a favourite team at age 5 and then stay the course for 75 years, come hell or high water. There is no "discourse", and very little discussion based on anything a reasonably detached observer might consider to be a fact. I try to remind myself that wackos are probably over-represented in those types of forums, but I can't help but feel I'm seeing a cross-section of the real America and it scares me. Decades of arrogance, poor education, and an infotainment-obsessed media seem to be coming home to roost. What else can be expected when the news media seems to consist of a competition between every-louder and ever-fatter men shouting back and forth at each other?
Obama will probably win this election, but I'm afraid that this presidency will be a booby prize; and when the country crashes down around him as a result of the past decades of poor governance, Obama will be the most convenient scapegoat available.