Election 08 - will it end?

I'm watching the unfolding action in the race for the White House over these past few months and it's reaching a pressurised and uncomfortable climax.

Now I'm not an American citizen so I can't vote, but that doesn't mean I can't take an interest or have an opinion. Some bloggers seem to think otherwise. The tone of comments on just about any newspaper's website is so harsh, so angry and so confrontational that it just amazes me.

And of course the result on November 4th has obvious ramifications for everyone else on the planet whether we like it or not.

So trying to understand or explain why this race is so bitter, and lately so personal, is difficult. The need to win by destroying the other side is one of those damaging, divisive strategies that just makes no sense in the long run. Yet it seems to be the default approach to politics everywhere these days.

In Ireland we had the same thing with the Lisbon Treaty, with the issue turning into a deeply divisive campaign that descended into fear-mongering, name-calling and misleading presentation of information. And of course when people don't know what to think because they are confused the best option is to maintain the status quo and change nothing.

And you know maybe this is yet another example of where politics imitates business, with government campaigns borrowing ideas from the ruthless world of business, where winning can often only result from the total destruction of a serious rival.

Either way, it makes it hard to sit on your hands and watch the race for the White House unfold without feeling a sense of frustration. 

Just tonight people are complaining about the fact that a party-political broadcast by one candidate will delay the start of the baseball. Even though this has been refuted by the baseball authorities, people are still claiming that this 'delay' is disgraceful.

And there's no point talking about truth any more. Because as Charles Tilly once explained, there are 6 types of truth, each of which can make sense depending on where you stand.

And yet, come November 5th, because of the way this race has been run, will it really be over.. or will it have just begun.

We live in interesting times.