I realise I have written barely anything on this blog about the US Presidential Elections. That does not reflect the level of interest I have taken in it, reading quite widely in a number of publications. Well, only an idiot would not have noticed that in some ways it was a very interesting election.
Barack Obama won and I think that was probably the result I would have favoured. I am very aware of the symbolism of a black man being elected President of the USA. In my lifetime, black people in the USA were denied the right to vote and were caught up in violence when they tried to exercise that right. Voting, whilst a fundamental human right, is only the tip of an iceberg; in his lifetime, in some of the Southern States of the USA, it was illegal to have a mixed-race relationship. And, watching from afar, the fiasco of Hurricane Katrina showed to me that racism in the USA is still widespread and runs deep. I am not saying it is worse than other countries; I am merely commenting specifically in the light of this election.
I can't get very excited about the election in political terms, though. I saw very little evidence of actual policies and issues being discussed openly, and voxpops on the TV seemed to indicate that large numbers of random voters had very little clue at about what either candidate stood for, other than 'more of the (Bush) same' or 'Change'.
Some Obama's proposals on domestic policy are fairly radical in USA terms, such as redistribution by taxation and the introduction of universal medical care. I did read a knowledgeable commenter several years ago that in UK or European terms, Bill Clinton was the equivalent of Ken Clarke or a moderate Christian Democrat, except that Ken Clarke and moderate Christian Democrats oppose judicial murder and Clinton happily allowed the state to murder its citizens. I don't see Barack Obama being any more left wing - Clinton also proposed universal healthcare. And indeed, for several months the likes of David "Dave" Cameron and Boris "Buffoon" Johnson, from the British Right, have been open about their support for Obama.
Another nation's domestic policies are none of my business; my opinion doesn't matter. But the policies and actions of a US President have global impact, especially in economic matters and in times of war.I am simply not convinced that Obama will turn out any different from his bellicose predecessors. Charitably, I would say that US Politicians, just like UK politicians, are at the behest of officials from the Department of State and the Pentagon, who are adept at tailoring briefings to match a specific agenda, and that agenda is a militaristic one. I know it's a bit pathetic for someone like me whose degree contained a significant amount of American Politics*, but I often think - what would President Bartlett do? And, of course, the answer is 'bomb the shit out of foreigners and execute Americans'.
My 'favourite' American President is FDR (yeah, I'm the sort of person who has 'favourite' American Presidents). Two programmes on BBC4 on Friday night reminded me of what a great visionary he was, his audacious, intelligent and compassionate New Deal which rescued America, and thus the developed world, from the depth of the Depression**. I don't think Obama faces such an enormous challenge economically, but FDR moved the USA from a position of International Isolation to a very different one indeed, via WWII. I wonder whether Obama has the vision and courage to withdraw from USA's meddling tendency whilst having the wisdom to know when it's right to intervene.
There has been a bit of debate about whether the UK would ever elect an Ethnic Minority PM. The answer of course, is, yes, in 1874. In response to this debate point, I did see someone write, it's not merely about race, would we ever have a disabled PM? To which I reply, er, yeah, like, right now.
I don't think there are any real parallels to be drawn, because, in case people have missed it, and I think that large numbers of the British electorate are in total ignorance - we don't have a system for directly electing a head of government. Constitutionally, the PM is the leader of the largest Parliamentary Party made up of MPs elected in geographical constituencies. However, I have a real sense that the election of Barack Obama is almost certainly a major boost for Streatham CLP
* actually, it didn't. My degree was called Politics but should really have been called Political History, Thought and Institutions. I think I know more of the Classical Greeks than of contemporary issues. But there again, no contemporary issues can be fully understood without a deep knowledge of the relevant history.
** Having seen Dr Atomic at the cinema on Saturday night I was going to make some reference to that,then remembered in time that that happened under Truman
