Are you as cosmically bored by this US election as I am? Less? Why?

"Not just stoned but...beautiful."

Possibly less - I don't watch much TV so am seeing all the heated discussions on blogs, mecha, mefi etc but they don't dominate my day. The radio coverage on the BBC is interesting. And there's positive change now (in my opinion anyway) so a good outcome all round.

I'm not bored by it, as I've paid virtually no attention to it. The US elections aren't really as big news around here as GWB's forthocoming visit and the inconveniences it will bring are.

For me USian elections are one of those things that I really only need the highlight reel for. I want to know the final tallies only really. I know it affects us up here north of the 49th parallel, but the details aren't that significant to me.

I suppose it's quite nice that GWB has been shown that he's not going to get it all his own way.

What I don't understand is the huge amount of optimism about what this is going to mean for the next two years. The Dems don't strike me as all that forceful, vocal or useful. I do understand that, to misquote Rumsfeld, you vote with the opposition you have not necessarily the opposition you want, but still...

I think the optimism stems, not necessarily from the changes in leadership, but the obvious changes in public perception. Some people have been really frustrated with politics-as-usual in the US for a loooong time, but this year it really bubbled to the fore-front of collective US consciousness. I think a lot of Democrats and liberals/moderates were concerned about elections shenanigans, and when there were no obvious problems caused by "the bad guys," giddiness ensued.

I admit, I was ecstatic when I heard that a) the dems took the house, b) the dems have a fighting chance at the senate, and c) Rumsfeld resigned. I'm by no means a Democrat in any sense of the word - I'm like Ghostrider, I vote for the party that's NOT in power.

Of course, some liberals really do think that the Democrats can't do any wrong, just like conservatives thought the Repubs couldn't when they took power with their Contract in 1994. It's like rooting for a sports team, really.

It's entertaining to read about the blatant foul play perpetrated by the Reuplicans and their agents. You don't get that kind of stuff here. The only particularly notable thing was the postal voting fraud in 2005.

But it's also dreadfully sad. The US used to be admired for the strength of its institutions. No longer.

Perhaps you'd be interested to know that Arizona voted down, by the slimmest margin, a proposition that would've banned y'll foreigners from having negative opinions about the US. I vote against it, but I must say that you guys lucked out on this one.

Ahem...that's y'all foreigners.

Less. Our country apes the US adminstration. This ranges from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan ("All the way with LBJ" and all that) to getting the DMCA in January. This is an act nobody in Australia wanted or even really knew very much about and now its about to become law to please the US administration. So yeah, I take an interest.

The current mob make Nixon look like Jefferson (in some respects, Carter in others). Now instead of using their numbers to supress the proper functioning of democracy, they're going to be subject to real scrutiny. A lot of rocks are about to be turned over and who knows what will scuttle out?

Clinton was hounded for years over a fairly ordinary (though adulterous) sex act. What do you think this lot have to hide? The fun is just beginning.

There was an election?

Normally I would be bored....but all those political posts have had their effect, and now I find it mildly inoffensive.

I actually wish I understood how the American system works (or doesn't...). Congress? Senate? Who controls what, how it's all made up, what the implications are.

As I don't understand it, well, it's not that I'm bored or non-plussed - I realise that Bush having is power massively reduced and now Rumsfeld going are hugely important to the planet - I just wish I knew more to actually be able to decide whether to be bored or not.