American Election Day is at Hand

Today's a significant day for the world as Americans go to the polls to decide who will be their next president. With the race being so tight this year, it's hard to say who will win, but I look forward to hearing the results come in once the polls close across America.

Like most Canadians, I'd like to see Kerry win. At the start of the election, the reason for choosing Kerry was based mostly on the thought that "Anyone is better than Bush." But that PBS Frontline documentary about Bush and Kerry informed me with a much better reason than simply being "better" than Bush.

Kerry, unlike Bush, has actually been around the world. It's an interesting fact that I did not realize until watching the PBS documentary; Kerry fought in Vietnam, while Bush remained in the reserves in the U.S.

While most would simply focus on the military record, when I heard this, I realized that Kerry has a more concrete and realistic view of the world having traveled around the world in his life. Bush, on the other hand, rarely, if ever travelled around the world before becoming president. And according to Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 911, he spent almost half his time in the first eight months as president on vacation until September 11 happened. Bush is also the one who said Mexico was one of America's largest economic partners, when in fact it's Canada - the other country in North America (which happens not to border his home state of Texas where he was governor).

It's interesting that we did not know any of the interesting facts about Bush before he became president, and now I wonder if the knowledge we have gained after four years of Bush Jr.'s presidency, will influence the outcome of this year's elections.