Election Round-up

I’ve been somewhat remiss in saying anything about this election – largely because others have said so much (and I don’t mean that in an altogether nice way, either). It would be interesting, I think, to get some sort of statistical fix on just what percentage of the English-language blogosphere has been devoted to the 2008 Presidential election. I bring this up partly as a mea culpa: a few weeks after I could no longer complain about the Beijing 2008 media saturation, I found myself in a US presidential battleground state. And, between the two – the US state in the throes of an election, and China in the throes of the Olympics – there was no question that the saturation level in the US was more pervasive and obnoxious.

Now, I don’t intend to suggest that I’m not interested in the Presidential race. I am. Keenly. But, all things considered, there is more to life. Especially from the perspective of Shanghai. I made this point earlier today when I appeared on a Minnesota Public Radio election special hosted by Kerri Miller. I was asked to speak to the interest level that the current election holds in China, and – specifically – if it was as high as what was described by the two reporters from London, and Paris, who preceded me on the program.

Of course, it’s not nearly so. I think there are several factors to explain this rather unsurprising ambivalence, including a rather high level of interest in the primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and a sense – among some Chinese whom I know – that the Obama win settled the issue. After all, how many more elections can a country 6,000 miles from the shores of China possibly expect the Chinese to take an interest in?

But also, I think, there’s an underlying sense that China simply has more consequential matters at hand. The decline of the stock market, the housing market, the ongoing earthquake recovery, a slowing manufacturing sector and – lord knows – the Olympics demand far more attention than the battle for leadership of a country with a battered economy, two wars, and serious image problems. The US may still be #1 (whatever that might mean), but – in light of the last eight years – it certainly isn’t a number one that garners the same level of attention and respect from China as it did as recently as the 2004 election season.

Why Europe would take a greater interest than China is a question for someone else – and perhaps some comments would help illuminate the subject.

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And finally, after very little deliberation (and two decades of knowing him), Shanghai Scrap hereby (and once again) endorses Steve Simon for another term as State Representative in Minnesota’s District 44A.

[Out of curiosity: any Shanghai Scrap readers IN 44A?]