US Politics Vs TV Series

I've been following the US election in the past couple months. This is not the normal me. The only site I'd visit religiously is my daily horoscope. But recently I've been following the US elections like... TV series.

Actually, I don't see much of a difference between the two. This is why:

1) The season basically starts in July and end in November. Not exactly the summer season, it's a good 4 month show. Btw, Season One, the Democrat primary election, that lasted for months before this. I wonder will there be a Third Season....

2) There is always a very funny character involve:
John McCain Vs Steve Martin



3) There is always a very serious character involve:
Barack Obama Vs Charles Philips (President of Oracle)



4) When the TV show becomes popular, Saturday Night Live will always make fun of it.

For full coverage check out here, it is really quite hilarious.


I think it is quite sad for Americans. We outsider seeing their presidential election as a TV series, an entertainment, rather than a serious matter. But I have to give them credit for generating interest of politics for people like me.

I didn't even pay attention to the Hong Kong Legco election until 2 weeks before that. (Though, the HK Legco election is a much shorter series, that last only for 2 months) At least I voted. The turnover rate for the once-every-4-year-Legco-election was only 45.2% this year. What I want to say is politics has never been a pretty alien topic for me, until early 1980s, when the discussion of Hong Kong's sovereignty began.

My encounter with local politics, or any kind of politics, in my entire has been a number less than Elizabeth Taylor's marriage. The first encounter of politics is probably when I was 10. I remember one day I discovered a stack of pocket-size lime green-covered books at my Dad's study room. The cover was plain, with simple black font. It says something like Hong Kong's Transition to Chinese Rule. That's the first green paper consultation published on the political system reform in HK.

The title resonated from terms I heard on TV about the transition of HK's sovereignty. So I flipped through it. There were words that I recognized, but they form phrases and terms that were incomprehensible. So I tossed it aside. A couple days later, in the study room, I saw my Dad holding those books in his in his study room. But with his head resting on the chair, glasses on, but eyes closed and mouth wide opened... snoring. That's my first encounter with politics!

So, I should thank the entertainment value that US Election brought, making politics a lot more interesting that I thought.

On top of these reasons, I do believe this US Election is set at a very controversial period. The on-going war in Iraq, the continuous disappointment and idiocy from the current US President, also the latest wall street crisis, these are rating the US in its worst credit for decades. People around the world are looking forward to find out, are Americans really that dumb, to get a comedian, whose partner loves her lipstick, to be the next US President.