Touchdown

The Obama-Rama came to Canada yesterday. For approximately six hours, but it hit and inspired everyday folk to dress in "gangsta" attire sporting none other than the badass Prez himself, emblazoned across their chests, trademark smile and all. The chains and the leather jackets slightly distracted from this, but nonetheless there he was.
He was also at the side of one Mr. Stephen Harper, walking down the halls of Canada's own parliament building, signign the guestbook, and then disappearing behind closed doors, most likely to plot the end of hunger, poverty, and corruption. Simultaneously.
I watched all this on an hour flight, most people around me had also tuned in to watch the new President stand beside a man either deemed "genius" or "corrupt evil tyrant" by some. Personally, I think Harper is smart, savvy, and logical, which is exactly what the country needs in a time of economic crisis. No, I don't agree with all of his policy, but I don't think he'll have the time to get to some point of it with the big R ahead of us. It was interesting, though, to see Obama, a man hailed as the answer to prayers and the image of the "new" America, next to a man who has been compared to Darth Sidius in various photo-edits. There were smiles and photo-ops, and I couldn't help but notice (of course) their respective attires.
First off, how many blue ties can one man own? I find the Republican v. Democrat system of the US not only limiting in a political sense, but also in dress. Republicans have their shiny red ties to rep. their party, while Democrats are always, ALWAYS found in a blue tie. I've been following Obama's campaign for a while, and each time he speaks it's a different blue tie. It must get incredibly boring.
Then there's Harper, who is reputedly styled and fed people-skills by his lovely wife. She has great subliminal messaging sense, because his tie was red, white, and orange. Just kidding. It was red, white, and blue. Showing his support for the US? I think that Canada doesn't have to worry about that. The whole world knows that were this a prison, we would be the collar-wearing, skulking bitch of the States. Or a more PG analogy: were this ancient Greece we'd be busy slathering the US in olive oil and feeding it grapes. It's a great political gesture to wear the colors of the visiting nation, but do you think that Harper dons yellow, red and blue when receiving a visit from the Mongolian consulate? Probably not. He also probably does not receive regular visits from Mongolian diplomats, but you get the point.
I am all for Obama, I think a country that is so supposedly "great" needs a great man to be in charge of it, but it shocks me that Canadians support him so much. A large part of his platform was originally to slowly remove Canadian products from the US - the Made in American Clause. Or something like that. The point is that Obama's focus may not help Canada out all that much. In fact, in this lovely time of Recession, it may royally screw us. The States is our greatest trade partner, by far, and if they start looking elsewhere to fulfill their needs, we're going to take a hit. A big one. Like Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler style.
In the long run, I think something like that would help Canada. We've been mooching off the States long enough. We have a great reputation as peacemakers but a terrible reputation as push-overs because of our relationship with the US. Obama is loved not for his politics, but by his charisma when it comes to Canadians. He has a 90% approval rating here, but do you really think the everyman has looked up his policies? And if that's true then how many Americans have actually paid attention to his politics?
Obama walking beside Harper is a beautiful sight - it inspires hope for a lot of Canadians who love Obama and want to see him work with us, and Canadians who want to have faith in their OWN government. The only worry I have is that people will focus too much on the picture, and not on the politics. Government should be held responsible, and the only way to do that is to look behind the smiles and handshakes.