The problem with writing about Obama is that he’s just far too sensible. Had the Republicans won the election, there would doubtless by now have been innumerable public gaffes made by the president and veep-elect, as well as the new cabinet being filled solely with octogenarian war heroes and Rush Limbaugh being appointed America’s poet laureate. In other words, this blog would be brimming with outrageous stories, all of which would basically have written themselves. However, things haven’t turned out that way, and instead it looks like we’ll get four years of progress and rational decisions. Well, that just sounds like hell.

Still, there’s one remnant of the election that staunchly refuses to go away, which means I can continue to count upon it for blog material: the Minnesota senate saga. A quick introduction: while most of the senate seats were voted on and decided two months ago, democrat Al Franken and rep Norm Coleman have been fighting an incredibly tense (some would say tedious) recount which is still seemingly nowhere closer to being resolved. Is Franken 49 votes ahead? Fifty? Or perhaps the whole thing is a Democrat hoax? When you consider there were about three million votes to start with, it seems rather petty to quarrel over such small figures. But quarreling there has been, on an immense and infuriating scale. Those are all links to different aspects of Al and Norm’s battle, all with the aim of getting about three more votes for their campaign.

And today it appears we may finally have a resolution to this clash of the filibustering titans: the final 900 or so absentee votes, long thought to have been eaten by Norm Coleman’s dog, have finally been found and are being counted. It’s a highly anticipated affair – you can even watch them being counted live online.

Hmm… an entire vote coming down to a handful of contested ballots? Weeks of deliberation and lawsuits? The chance of everything being halted by a Supreme Court ruling?

Remind you of anything?

Ah, now it becomes obvious what’s going on. Those poor Minnesotans, tired of being overlooked, are just trying to boost their profile by having a vote that’s just like the film Recount. Unfortunately, when you replace the glamour of Florida with the cold weather of Minnesota, it becomes a lot less appealing. Add that to the fact that Obama still won’t have a filibuster-proof majority even with Franken’s seat, and the whole thing becomes rather tedious, not least because this recount has approximately one millionth the importance of that one eight years ago. The point I’m trying to make is this: not every part of this election is bound to be as historic as the rest of it, and as with any momentous event there will always be some irritating and unimportant people trying to make a name for themselves. There’s only one thing to do now: vote for lizard people!