Just What are We Voting for?

I just read an article about Tony Blair in The Gaurdian called "Look Back in Wonder" that completely shook me up and not at all in the way that the writer had intended. It's a re-vist of a a book called "The Blair Revolution" written by Peter Mandelson in early 1996 - almost 13 years ago. Mandelson was in the New Labour government at the time and was the architect of Government policy. The article made a list of issues that were not on the agenda in 13 years ago and it's jaw dropping. They include:

1. Very little on foreign policy other than Europe. The U.S. was barely mentioned.
2. Ignorance of climate change (tiny mention)
3. Mobile phones are unmentioned luxuries
4. There was no: text messaging, web, email, or blogs. That's what the article mentions...I also think of no: Youtube, Google, MySpace, Facebook, spam, camera phones, ipods, Apple was nowhere to be found, organic movement, hybrids, video download issues, nuclear threat from Pakistan - Iran - Pakistan or North Korea, no war in Iraq, no Al-Qaeda...
5. Gay rights are barely mentioned with almost no reference to gay marriage (this became a central rights issue to New Labour during it's term)
6. Race and migration are not mentioned. "Polish plumbers" (The Poles now form a major work force due to large numbers of immigrants) or Islamic radicals
7. Hedge funds
8. Music downloads
9. No mention of credit crisis
10. Nothing substantial about the National Health Service (which has been a major issue)
11. No mention of terrorism outside problems with Ireland (Ireland is no longer a concern)
12. No mention of wars with Iraq or a special relationship with the U.S.

All these things became MAJOR issues in the 12 years since.

So what then...are we voting for in Canada, the U.S., here in Britain or anywhere else when we cast a vote? We have absolutely no way of knowing what the person we are voting for is going to have to do. Who could have predicted 9/11? Who could have predicted the credit crisis and it's economic downturn? In 1996 there wasn't even a hot housing market. Canada was barely limping out of a horrible recession and the dotcom bubble was just inflating.

We think we're voting for an alternative to what has come before, a person that shares our values and one that we trust or hope will lead us through the issues of the day. What we're really voting for, I think, is a someone we hope is a great leader, who shares our values and will lead us through any and all unknown crises that will arise. We want this person to have the wherewithal to identify what needs to be done. Most of all we want them to be able to bring people together and unite them to handle whatever problems arise with the best intentions of the people at the forefront of his or her mind and as a key to the policies they implement.

With that in mind I choose Barrack Obama. To me he is one of the few politicians I have found to be truly inspirational, who I believe has the greater good at heart when he acts, and has the ability to create a more positive and unified politic than currently exists. Wish I could vote for him. Canada? I see no one like that on the scene at the moment - certainly not Harper. Dion a little maybe and here in Britain...I don't see anyone like that here either. Guys like Obama only come along once in awhile though. They're rare and that's what makes them so special. I hope he gets elected and I hope he turns out to be what he appears to be.

It's a bit scary to think that when you vote for someone you're voting for them to deal with problems that haven't even been invented yet, don't you think?

Read "Look Back in Wonder" at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/11/tony-blair-peter-mandelson