Category Archives: Opinion Pieces

Expat Election Musings

When the Globe Calls…..

Four years ago, during the 2012 election, I participated in the Globe and Mail’s expat election blog project. This project involved a group of Canadian expats living across the United States sharing their perspective of election issues with Canadian readers and blogging live during debates and other televised events. While the paper did not reprise the project this go around, a few of us were asked to contribute to a special feature, which the paper printed this past week.

Since participating in this project was part of the impetus for starting this blog, and since my published comments were highly edited, I thought it made sense to share my thoughts here. The paper asked us to comment on the past year of living with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, and then to share what we thought would happen after the election.

Here are my answers.

Year of Living with Trump

When Donald Trump first emerged on the political scene people here did not take him seriously. My friends were all convinced there would be another Bush/Clinton showdown, with John Kasich as a long-shot outsider. Ironically, my first inkling that Trump was actually in it to win came from Canadian sources. My son came home from Ahmek (Taylor Statten Camps in Algonquin Park) determined to learn more about “this Trump guy” and was stunned that his Canadian friends knew more than he did about what was really going on in American politics. Fast forward a year and the same child went to camp fully school in Trumpism.

And here lies my challenge: how do you continue to encourage your children to be engaged in the political process while ensuring they understand how disrespectful and inappropriate their candidate is? Trump’s sound bites are appealing to a certain slice of the electorate: build a wall, lock her up…This rhetoric, however, is contrary to the foundations of liberal democracy and, in my opinion, is doing more to erode faith in the political process than address the very real issues facing the United States.

Hopes for After the Election

First and foremost, I hope Hillary Clinton is elected president. I shutter to think of the alternative. Ultimately, I hope that Donald Trump becoming the Republican nominee will shake up the Republican party and help “unwind” the big tent. A Republican friend of mine recently announced that she is no longer a Republican as she can’t vote for Trump. I believe she will vote for other Republicans running this cycle, putting into play what it means to be a Republican. If Donald Trump is the future of the party then where do former establishment Republicans fit? If he is not, where do his supporters fit? Pundits love to focus on how demographic trends favour Democrats. I wonder whether this election will provide an impetus for party realignment, which would challenge conventional wisdom of how certain groups vote.

Here is a link to the article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/us-election/canadian-expats-reflect-on-the-ugly-us-presidential-race/article32572248/

Girl Power

Girl Power Eight-Year Old Style

“SHHH. Be quiet. I need to hear this!” So yelled my eight-year old daughter at her brothers. Scott Pelley’s recent interview with Hillary Clinton was about to air on the CBS Evening News.

My daughter, you see, is an unwavering Hillary fan and supporter. She doesn’t really understand the issues yet, particularly as they relate to her well being. She does, however, strongly believe that it is time for a woman to be president, and in Hillary she sees someone very presidential.

Now remember, this is a child whose first birthday roughly corresponds with Obama’s first victory. She has never known anything but a black president, and may never really take the time to focus on the historic nature of his election. Instead, I hope she will judge him on his accomplishments.

Where Have they Gone?

My daughter’s commitment to Hillary is particularly intriguing given that so many young, female Democrats are drawn to Bernie Sanders. These women seem attracted to the idealism of the Sanders campaign. The ‘gender’ card argument falls flat on them. As Jill Filipovic wrote in the New York Times Review, it is not so much that these women aren’t feminists, but rather that their feminism is expressed more on an issue by issue level rather than by means of breaking through a barrier.

Older women, however, are generally staunch Hillary supporters. My mother is certainly one of them. When I asked her why she didn’t hesitate: “She has a serious command of complex issues. She has been in or near public office for nearly forty years. She was a very effective Senator from a large and important state.” And her list goes on…..

My mom has been a Hillary fan for a long time. She credits a 1994 PBS Frontline episode celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hillary’s class at Wellesley with convincing her that Hillary deserved a shot in her own right. She was particularly impressed with how, as valedictorian, in response to a very condescending address, she “ignored her prepared remarks and spoke from the heart, effectively ripping his thesis apart.” From her perspective, Hillary showed then that she had the grit and perseverance to operate effectively as a woman in a man’s world.

Coming Full Circle

I love the symmetry of how these different reactions to one candidate coalesce. Each is feminist in its own way, be it breaking barriers or focusing on issues that matter.

As a Gen Xer who bridges the gap between Millennial voters and my mother’s Baby Boom generation, I find I am somewhat swayed by my eight-year old. From her perspective, HIllary comes across as the most presidential: her being a woman in a bonus, but what really matters is that she seems most qualified to do the job.

For her sake, I hope to see a woman President sooner than later. I would like to see the conversation move beyond historic firsts towards ability, experience and ISSUES. Let’s hope that this happens well before 2028, when my feisty one gets to vote.

Silly Season is Underway

Let the Silly Season Begin

Silly Season in Full-Swing

So it seems that election silly season is in full swing. I can’t even behave like a smug Canadian this go around because our own election kicked into gear a full six weeks early (not that I am allowed to vote, but more on that another time). The irony of all this is that for better or worse many Canadians follow American politics very closely. We don’t always understand how things work, but we sure have an opinion.

This was brought home to me when my eldest son, Canadian born, I must add, came home from camp in Ontario aghast at how focused his cabin-mates were on the Donald Trump phenomenon. “They are way more interested in this than I am”, he said. Admittedly, I wouldn’t mind him paying a bit more attention, but frankly I think that unlike his mother, he is developing a healthy filter on when to start paying attention.

It’s all about the “Others”

This go around, however, I am glad that I am paying attention, for I think there is the potential for some fascinating match-ups. Like most sane people I know I really do hope and believe that Donald Trump will disappear before primary season starts in earnest. My worry is that he is making so much money with all this free publicity that he will stick around way too long.

Yet, it seems that if nothing else, Trump is shaking up the race in unexpected ways. What was supposed to be a relative cakewalk for Jeb Bush has become all about the “others”. It is within these others that things are getting interesting.

A Level Playing Field

I am particularly intrigued by the possibility of a Carly/Hillary matchup, and not for the same reasons as most pundits. The New York Times opinion pages is debating whether or not Carly Fiorina is a Feminist. Did she pave the way for women or is she putting up roadblocks to their well-being? While this debate raises a number of interesting questions, I think it misses a key point. A Carly/Hillary contest would be exciting because it might just usher in a post-feminist era.

In a funny way I believe two women vying to be commander in chief would do more to level the playing field than anything else. How refreshing would be be to hear women debating Planned Parenthood instead of men? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to listen to each woman put forward her policy platform and evaluate them issue by issue. Sure, the media (and all of us) would still focus on clothes and hair, but let’s face it, that is just part of being a woman.

As the millennial generation truly comes of age and social norms are increasingly questioned and challenged, why not up-end traditional gender roles by taking “gender” out of the equation. This year’s silly season just may turn out to be one of the smartest in a long time…..

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