The US Presidental Election

Although this is one of the two most serious issues in the world today I have yet to comment on it fully. In the late stages of the Democratic leadership campaign I supported Barack Obama over Hilary Clinton. This was not so much a vote in favour of Obama as much as a vote against Clinton because here in the UK we've endured her particular brand of quasi-socialist, quasi-feminist, idiot in a power suit nonsense for more then a decade and trust me when I tell you that there is no greater insult you can inflict on a nation.

Which McCain already chosen by the Republicans Obama's nomination left a straight fight between two candidates that I didn't know that much about. Based on what I did know we had;

Barack Obama; A fresh, young intelligent candidate from the new school of left wing politics. Personally I found his connection to certain radical figures to be something of a plus because if you are to elect a left-wing president you want a candidate who is of the hard left rather then a conservative with a bleeding heart of will waste billions of dollars on whatever the latest liberal cause celebre of the week happens to be.

Although clearly not a Muslim Obama has, in part, been raised in Muslims countries amongst Islamic cultures and traditions. Far from being a threat I think that while America's foreign policy is dominated by wars against Islamic terrorism this experience would be a definite advantage because in order to defeat an enemy you must first be able to truly understand them.

The main concern I have about Obama is his lack of experience. He has only been in national politics for two years and seems to rely to heavily on his youth and the unique selling point of his race to dominate the political discourse. Hell he even needed a little help to get his parties nomination. This is no minor concern because the world of national and international politics is a rough place and you can have all the best ideas about terrorism, the environment or health care but they will count for nothing unless you have the ability to put them into action.

John McCain; McCain has always struck me as something of a practical Republican. That is to say he will look at the problem in front of him and find a solution that will work even if that solution happens to go against his own political beliefs. This is a definite advantage because the challenges faced by the President of the United States are complicated enough without trying to impose some sort of political dogma on them.

The other thing I like about McCain is his military record. You may not like the military and you may not like war but anybody who has served in the military let alone spent five years in a POW camp is a very strong character who understands the military and the way it works. With America at war on two fronts and the world being far from a peaceful place this experience will be invaluable. McCain showed his strength on the subject with his plan for the Iraq Surge. Although controversial because of it's cost in American lives this plan was undoubtedly the right thing to do because it took a very bad situation and made it a hell of a lot better.

I have two main concerns about McCain is his age. This is no cheap shot because at the time of the next Presidential election he will be 76 and that is old by anyone's measure and president is without doubt one of the most physically and mentally demanding jobs there are however I'm sure the Republican party wouldn't be running him unless they were sure about his health. The other concern I have about McCain is that at a military man he will, at times of stress, revert to his training and seek a military solution when a diplomatic one may be more appropriate.


With the two very strong candidates facing up against each other I was then looking forward to a presidential campaign which would test them both and show America at it's best. Sadly events and the Brits conspired to rob us of that and we were left with a far messier campaign with two key features.


Sarah Palin as Vice President; Faced with the seemingly unstoppable momentum of the Obama campaign the McCain camp assumed they were going to have a tough time winning the Whitehouse. In response they came up with a masterstroke by choosing Sarah Palin. As the Vice Presidents job is essentially to sit around secretly hoping that the president gets shot Ms Palin's political experience or lack there of isn't really an issue. What she brings to the Republican ticket is image and her image of a home-spun, gun loving, God fearing, anti-abortion hockey mom appeals to the core Republican supporters who fell that McCain is too liberal. The Republican campaign was also hoping that some of the more colourful elements of Ms Palin's image such as the names of her children and how they spend their free time, her policy on rape kits, her Miss Alaska title and her hypocrisy over the Alaskan jet would cause the Democrats to fall about laughing and launch a series of personal attacks against her. This display of venom and vitriol would paint the Democrats campaign as the party of the angry black man turning off the undecided voters of middle America against them.

This plan was nothing short of brilliant. It was so good in fact I couldn't help myself to reward it by playing along with it for a bit. The only week point was that certain elements of the plan relied heavily on some very poor intelligence provided by the Brits but I think the Republican campaign have already learnt their lesson.

The Economic Crisis; Putting presidential debates, VP, environmental concerns and even wars in the shade this crisis is without doubt the defining issue of the campaign because how the current President and the next President responds to it will have more impact on more Americans then most of the others combined.

It is in their response to the crisis that a clear division emerged between the candidates. Barack Obama appeared not to understand the severity of the situation and more or less chose to ignore it carrying on with his campaign and treating a major threat to the US as little more then an opportunity to score cheap political points of his opponent before smiling and heading off to the next photo-opportunity.

John McCain on the other hand took decisive action and cancelled his presidential campaign . This caused him to be vilified by the Democrats and the media and may well prove to be the decision that saved the economy but cost him the Presidency. It was though the sort of action that was needed because it caused the media, congress and the American public to focus on the problem and pass the rescue package that will begin to solve America's economic problems. To me that is the mark of a leader.

Who would I vote for? Although I like Obama, because he has lots of good ideas and I'm sure he will make a good president one day, he lacks the experience to put those ideas into action and he lacks the strength of character to face America and the worlds challenges. McCain on the other hand also has a lot of good ideas and the sense to listen to others opinions. He also has the experience and ability to turn round Americas fortunes.

So for me it's McCain all the way for the simple reason he is the better candidate.