i heart Rick Mercer

...because he says stuff like this in his monologue:

"So here it is, inauguration day in America. And like everyone else I can't help but get caught up in the moment because honestly, as a Canadian, I did not believe in my lifetime I would see a man like Barack Obama become President of the United States. And not because he's black. No, no, no, no. Because he ran a positive campaign and he actually got elected.

And if recent history has taught us anything it's that that could never work up here. Because when it comes to politics, we haven't seen anything remotely positive in a very long time.

Think about it. In the last American election, the defining themes were "change is possible" and "hope," and they had the highest voter turnout in 40 years. In our last election, the defining themes were "stay the course" and "destroy the enemy," and we had the lowest voter turn out in our entire history. Clearly we are on two different tracks.

Which is fine; we are a sovereign nation, we are unique on the world stage. For example, we're now the last nation on earth that wants Guantanamo Bay prison to stay open and it's not even our prison. Yes, it's a brave new world and we're old school.

Now that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate the new President. No, no, no. Everyone loves this guy. Cripes, when Obama announced that his first foreign visit was going to be to Canada Stephen Harper looked so excited I thought his head was gonna pop off.

And I don't blame him. I'd like to get my picture taken with Obama too. And clearly the fact that he's visiting Canada is very exciting; because, as of today, he is the 44th president of the United States – and eight hours in, he's doing a bang up job.

And the fact is he got that job by doing something that no Canadian political leader has done in a very long time: he appealed to the very best in his fellow citizens and gave them something to believe in. So when that visit finally happens, let's hope some of that rubs off."