"Don't Tell Mama, I'm for Obama"

This week’s Economist has an interesting leader in which it discusses the ability of the Democratic Primary frontrunner Barack Obama’s ability to deliver on his promising campaign and impressive surge in popularity. The leader, inter alia, asserts that a black president in the White House is likely to transform America’s image abroad – something that is desperately needed following the Bush tenure. Overall, the Economist notes, probably rightly so, that Obama has, thus far, not faced the same level of scrutiny as have his rivals, which has allowed him to rely on rhetoric and high expectations rather than political substance. Similarly, the economist notes that Obama’s voting record in the Senate is one of the most left leaning ones among Democrats. Although this is likely to appeal to most Europeans, as this would arguably place him firmly in the centre of the political scale over here, one should not get too carried away. It is evident that even a left leaning Democratic President is going to pursue US objectives and interests once installed in the White House. Rightly so. However, where Obama has the potential to lead with a good example is as to what constitute US interests. For example, Obama has already pledged to make diplomatic approaches to Iran and Syria should he be elected. Although this will not solve the Middle East predicament, it is certainly a welcomed change from the Bush administration. Apart from this, a point that might work in Obama’s favour in the race against Hillary Clinton is the fact that for nearly twenty years the US has been governed by either a Bush or a Clinton, which may rouse arguments of a Monarchy of The United States of America. In addition, it remains the situation that Hillary Clinton is (for various as well as obscure and self-contradicting reasons) subject to serious hatred from various quarters of both the right and left of America. This might work in favour of Obama as Democrats, who are vary of loosing out on the presidency to the revived John McCain at a time when it is practically there for the taking, will look to polls indicating that Clinton fares badly in head to head polls against McCain whereas Obama edges ahead. Either way, at least Obama has a great campaign slogan in "Don't Tell Mama, I'm for Obama" while less than a year of Bush’s presidency is left. Let the countdown begin.