No surprise whatsoever: Canada has collective Obama envy

Behold the blander than bland candidates Canadians had to vote for last election. Okay, maybe Duceppe was a bit interesting.

I knew it would just be a matter of time before this showed up in a poll; I feel it too. The last Canadian election in October was a complete snorefest and the situation afterwards with the constant instability and attempts to one-up each other (and the thought of a Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition making the unelected Elizabeth May a senator for life no less) pretty much made everybody angry with the whole government. In spite of the much rosier economic picture, Canadians envy the United States for its new president:

On the down side, Harper and other Canadian politicians suffer by contrast when compared to the "charisma and style" of Obama, the poll shows.

"Canadians are experiencing collective Obama envy," Graves said.

In all, 47 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement: "Watching the excitement surrounding the inauguration of Barack Obama and comparing it to our own political leadership, I feel disappointed with our options."

Another 22 per cent said they disagreed with that statement, 26 per cent said they neither agreed nor disagreed, and five per cent didn't know or wouldn't say.

In the United States even Bob Barr was a more interesting candidate than any of the Canadian party leaders (Bob Barr grew up in both Iran and Iraq).