Suddenly, Americans love us — because they’re feeling lousy about themselves
Americans have always had positive feelings about Canada — particularly American liberals who envy our universal health care and good-guy foreign policy. But those feelings have always been vague, tempered by our national image problem — the fact that everyone thinks we’re boring. Challenged to come up with world’s dullest headline back in the 1980s, Michael Kinsley, editor of
The New Republic, nailed it: “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.”
Justin Trudeau is not boring. He’s handsome, social-media savvy, has a gorgeous family and even a tattoo. He’s young and of the times. His little temper tantrum this week is likely to only heighten the interest.
When Frazer goes to an event or a dinner these days, everybody wants to talk to him about Trudeau. “He’s vital. He’s high-energy. He’s modern.”
A Canadian politician who actually has celebrity value. What a concept.
Truth is, Canada’s current cachet in the States has less to do with us than it does with the state of American politics. American fascination with Trudeau indicates the sense of desperation many people here feel when they examine their own political landscape.
Barack Obama once symbolized the kind of change that many craved, particularly those on the left. But that was eight years ago, and today Obama is seen by many as a disappointment — a politician whose coolness and intellect are now regarded as signs of weakness, rather than strength.
Bernie Sanders may have captured some of the longing felt by those who once pinned their hopes on Obama, but Bernie’s a 74-year-old socialist from Vermont — hardly a symbol of generational change.
Instead of any sense of excitement over a new kind of leadership, Americans are brooding over the prospect of six more months of a nasty election campaign — between a reality TV star who seldom mentions a rival or a foreign leader without resorting to crude insults, and a political veteran who has trouble shaking her image of arrogance and entitlement.
The personal weaknesses of Trump and Clinton normally would be enough to sink either one of them in a presidential election campaign — if it weren’t for the fact that they’re running against each other. So many Americans are stuck with a choice between
two people they don’t like.
So the current interest in Trudeau and Canada could last a while longer. Not much longer, I suspect.
America is a big, diverse place, and while it remains the world’s only real superpower, few Americans are terribly interested in what goes on outside their borders. Even if it is someplace close to upstate New York.
Suddenly, Americans love us — because they’re feeling lousy about themselves – iPolitics