To give young Chinese such a glimpse of this and then brutally remind them that they don't have such luxuries of idealism and empowerment just highlights the failings of the CCP system even more...
Strangely enough, those kind of images remind me of a Chinese-style dictatorship. Legions of apparently adoring fans worshipping their benevolent leader, chanting slogans, etc.
To the rest of the world, the presidential election is a reminder of everything that is wrong with America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britishness In November 2007 The Times' Comment Central asked readers to define Britishness in five little words. The winning suggestion was "No motto please, we're British."
or to further quote, “The point I was making is, this idea of a statement of Britishness; I cannot think of anything less British than that,” said 25-year-old David Bishop, author of the winning motto.
The public appearances of the President as well as the candidates are not sycophantic party propaganda. While the Wen Jiabiao's and Hu Jintao's of the world are lionized in The People's Daily and other party organs, the US media regularly shows American officials getting grilled or having to explain one thing or another. That not only are critical things said of Obama regularly in print or on air, but also often horrendous things from his opponents, and who can "get away with it" (meaning, no trip to a labor reeducation camp), says volumes.
Yes, this is a bit of a lionizing Obama video, but can you picture Xi Jiping doing anything this candid to his supporters? The whole idea of young students eagerly volunteering for a candidate they believe in is unheard of in China:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBK2rfZt32g
And: despite the whole money thing. Yeah, it's bad, the problem definitely exists, etc etc. But the Super PACs lost and Karl Rove melted down on TV.
Everything went downhill after the 2008 Olympics, I mean, Twitter, Facebook, everything was open before that. Now? Its getting worse and worse every month.