Blog On The Motorway

Looking back to the glorious night in November 2008 (was it really that long ago?) when myself and a group of dedicated drunkards stayed up all night in my front room as the American people ushered in a moment of genuine change, and embraced hope over fear, it was something that was genuinely special to be a part of, even from a trans atlantic distance. Fastforward to today, and try as it might, British politics is utterly incapable of grasping the same strand of hope.

I have just returned from voting (and yes that picture is from my polling station, in case you care), in an empty church hall (and yes that picture is from my polling station, in case you care.) I live in a constituency where my vote will not matter one iota, because I happen to live in a very safe seat. I have always lived in safe seats, and yet like a fool I get the same tingle of excitement ever time election time rolls around. Mind you, as one friend pointed out to me on Facebook earlier, at least I now have the luxury of voting my intention, rather than tactically. He is not a Labour supporter, but is gripped with the same ‘anyone but the Tories’ fever that seems to have struck the country (and hopefully will prevail come the results) and as such is voting for the candidate best positioned to defeat the Conservative candidate. And this is why the election of change has become an election of fear, as the Tories trade on the fear of Labour, and the left leaning parties try to form an an alliance out of fear against the Tories.

Cameron has tried to make this election about change, about hope, as though he wants his Obama moment without genuinely understanding how that moment worked, but people have overwhelmingly seen through that, and any victory dance that he makes outside the black door with the number ten tomorrow or in the next week will be tempered by the knowledge that the result is no glowing endorsement of his policies or personality, no mandate for sweeping change. Brown, however, could never make this about change, because that inevitably leads to the question of why such changes were not made over the previous 13 years of his party’s power. Labour have a record that in some areas is shining, in others dismal. The same can be said of any party who have been in power long enough, but the decisions that Blair and Brown have made over issues like Iraq and civil liberties have been utterly atrocious and indefensible, and leave even the most hardened Labour supporters to shake their heads.

If anyone in this election has represented change and hope, it is Nick Clegg. But even to this most ardent Liberal Democrat supporter, he failed to follow up on the promise of his performance in the first debate, seeming at times to be scared of his own party’s positions. And the Lib Dem positions on some areas are not particularly populist, but where Obama made real hope possible was in not ducking the big topics, and by trying his best to explain his positions in an honest manner when they were out of synch with popular opinion. On immigration and Europe especially, Clegg has not done enough to make his case, and he has scared a lot people willing to take a punt on him, and in the last few weeks sounded like a broken record when accusing the other parties of the ‘same old politics’ time and time again. He should have hit much harder and longer on MP’s expenses, and made electoral reform the centrepiece of his campaign.

To a lot of my peers though, he has represented change and hope in very real terms. A lot has been said in the mainstream media about how the online battle was not going to win the election, wiping their brows with a collective sigh of relief as they did so. But they have missed the point. What the online battle has allowed for is for people to actively discuss the election amongst their peers, to strutinise and find comedy in an area that is usually so dry and passionless and inscrutable. It has allowed politics to become cool again to a generation that grew up thinking it was all pointless, and to let people think that their voice can be heard, that their views are just as valid and important as those of the right or left wing press. It has provided an avenue for both hope and fear to be expressed, and to grow.

But while this sense of renewed optimism seems so palpable today, as I watch my friends talk on twitter about the vote, as I read passionate blogs about the election, and as the Facebook vote counter has climbed and climbed, I wonder if this sense of hope and optimism is all just a prelude to a million dashed hopes and squandered dreams, as tomorrow we awake (well, not me, I’ll be staying up all night to watch it but you know what I mean) to find that the Tories are back in charge. I hope not. What I really want is a hung parliament, with Labour strong enough to form a coalition with the Lib Dems. Anything but Cameron, who will destroy so many of the services that the British people have come to rely on over these past 13 years. And there again, is the fear that means that while this election is the most important of my lifetime, it will never represent that Obama moment. I am beginning to wonder if we as a nation are capable of it.

But enough doom and gloom (there’ll probably be plenty of that to go around tomorrow) because if nothing else this election has provided moments of high drama, comedy and, yes hope.  Here, in no particular order, are my top 5 moments of the 2010 election:

1. Watching the polls for Clegg go through the roof after the first debate, and how the pundits were utterly unprepared for it.
2. When Ellen pointed out in the same debate that Cameron was the spit of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
3. The moment today when someone (fellow sci-fi geek) on Facebook pointed out that in fact he could be Lore, the evil twin of Data, which leaves the possibility still of Cameron ending up destroyed on a desert planet, or brainwiped and joining the good guys.
4. When Twitter pounced on the anti-Clegg rhetoric in the press and created the #nickcleggsfault hashtag.
5. The BNP running the most error prone and shambolic campaign possible, blowing (hopefully) any ground they made in the European elections.

But of course there are low points:

1. Bigotgate, because apparently calling a bigot a bigot is tantamount to treason, or possibly just a good excuse to move off the colossal economy story from the day before.
2. The Sky Debate, and Adam Boulton’s stupid puffy Murdoch-financed face.
3. George Osbourne. Because I’ve seen enough horror films to know what the end of that story is.
4. The dismissal of the Lib Dems in the final week by every bit of TV coverage.
5. The weird spittle thing that Cameron seems to get on his chin when he’s excited. Freaks. Me. Out.

And that’s about it.  I shall now spend the next twelve hours or so glued to my television, hoping against hope for a defeat for the forces of darkness.