Politics as Unusual

This is perhaps the most interesting time to be an American living in Japan.

The above sentence is hopeless vague and unwieldy. It can be interpreted, construed, rebutted, denied, bolstered and defended innumerable ways. In my opinion therefore, it is the perfect lede in a blog about politics and politicians.

As many of you know, I love politics… the Platonic ideal of Politics, that is. It can be beautifully demanding and challenging: intellectually, philosophically, and ethically. Consequently, watching current politicians and their campaigns for office, I feel akin to a trainspotter watching a head-on train collision. My amateur enthusiasm and knowledge make it all the more horrifying and compelling to witness.

With the internet, my view of the American political stage is no less clear from halfway across the world than it would be from America’s Heartland. I can find just about any clip of a speech, interview, or off-hand remark made by well… anyone. I can find press releases, news articles, and editorial columns from basically anywhere. And I do. I am perhaps more up-to-date regarding this Presidential Election than I would be if I were living in the States. Living in Japan, however, has reinforced and magnified my belief in the importance of being aware of the bias not only of one’s news sources, but of oneself when gathering information this way. It’s something I’ve always believed, but feel even more strongly about it as I experience living outside of the United States.

In the States, I would without any effort on my behalf, encounter news stories and opinions from sources much more right-leaning than I am. Now, I have to go out of my way to find them. And finding them is important. We naturally tend to gravitate towards sources that we feel share our perspective and opinions, and there is no end to such sources on the internet. But, this wouldn’t give me a very well-rounded view of the American political reality. So, I watch (with gritted teeth) Bill O’Reilly on YouTube as well as full Daily Show with Jon Stewart episodes (thank you Nate, for pointing these out to me.) I’ve bookmarked and track the conservative news site, TownHall.com as well as the more liberal HuffingtonPost.com. The most vital site recently added to my bookmarks is FactCheck.org to help me sort out all of the various truths, half-truths, misleading statements, and outright lies I read and hear. This is a full time job.

However, no matter how hard I work to keep up with it all, I find a vital element of politic-watching missing– the watercooler talk. It’s something I used to roll my eyes at, but I find that I miss it desperately. I know what the liberal and conservative bloggers and analysts are thinking, but I have no idea as to what they ordinary men and women who don’t post their opinions to the web think. I have a fairly good idea as to what campaign claims are true and which are false, but I don’t know what Joe and Jane America accept as the truth, what they believe are the important issues of this campaign.

I recently saw a poll on CNN International that showed the percentage of people claiming to be highly interested in the American Presidential Election by country. According to this poll, 83% of Japanese are highly interested in this year’s election and only 80% of Americans. Whenever I mention the election to some of my acquaintances, though, it is the historic element that draws their attention. The individual candidates’ positions on the issues is given little notice. Most seemed to favor Obama because they liked the fact that he would be the first African-American as President. But now Sarah Palin has been named McCain’s running mate, they seem genuinely excited over either possibility as it would be either the first African-American in office or the first woman as V.P. It’s an interesting observation considering the ambivalence many Japanese felt regarding the suggestion that royal succession rules be amended to allow the Crown Prince’s eldest daughter to succeed him to the throne and their relief when a son was born to the younger brother of the Crown Prince whose birth allowed the debate to fade into the background.

It’s also interesting to compare the American President Election to the current campaign and upcoming election of the Japanese Prime Minister since the current P.M., Yasuo Fukuda, announced his resignation a little over a week ago. He was in office not quite one year and whose approval ratings mirror President Bush’s current approval ratings. There has been very little talk on the subject among my co-workers as fair as I can tell. Of course, this election is one in which only members of the Diet (parliament) can vote, not the Japanese citizens.

Candidates for the post were just announced a few days ago and the election will be held in two weeks. But even in normal elections, the campaigns only run for 6 weeks before they vote. My acquaintances laugh when I express my wish that American campaigns were similarly short, especially considering Obama and McCain have been on the campaign trail nigh on 19 months by now.

Even more enviable is the post-election clean up of campaign signs. In my first week in Kumamoto, they held the mayoral election I believe, and the day after the election ended, city workers were out in full force taking down all of the signs decorating the city. The next day none remained.

All of that said, I do hold the American political process in even higher regard today than ever before. I am so happy that such a wide range of thought and opinions are available for consumption. And I am proud to have to opportunity to have my own voice heard in such an important decision.

- Jenny