Perspectives
Treading unfamiliar ground
The US presidential election is still almost a year away. But the aspirants to be the country's forty-fourth president have already been in the race for more than a year. George Bush's two-term presidency has resulted in a total mess, with its inconclusive wars, chronic deficits and continuing erosion of America's lofty liberal values. Therefore, as the prospects of a Republican candidate entering the White House any time soon have significantly receded, attention, both at home and abroad, is now focused on two front-running Democrat candidates -- Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Houssein Obama.
More so, because both of them are unusual candidates for the US presidency, which is traditionally the preserve of a male of Anglo-Saxon stock.
Apparently, there is departure not only from tradition but also with regard to the nation-wide identity of the contestants, most of who are new faces and weren't involved in politics previously at a national level. Yet, the politicians with the most realistic prospect of capturing the Democratic Party's nomination are, of course, Hillary Clinton, a woman, and Barrack Obama, an African-American. Both are first timers in each category. Even if a female and a black American had contested earlier for the top office, they weren't either credible, or serious, contestants.
But, this time round, the contest between Hillary and Obama has been most exciting to watch, and both seem to mean business. Hillary Clinton, the Senator from New York, is a well regarded candidate and saw until recently a well-choreographed campaign with confidence and thorough preparation. The popularity of her husband, former president Bill Clinton, among the black electorate, as well as a swelling number of women supporting her are Hillary's principal source of strength.
For quite sometime, Hillary Clinton maintained an aura of invincibility after winning two early primaries -- prompting many to believe that her nomination as the Democrats' presidential candidate was all but assured. However, in recent months, her early lead has suffered a setback as Obama overtook her in the Iowa polls, and could leap ahead of her. Even in the state of New Hampshire Hillary was locked in a neck-to-neck struggle with Obama.
Clinton learned long ago that the race for the White House is not for the swiftest but for one with staying power and grit to slog through to the finish despite embarrassments and reversals.
Bill Clinton went on to crown himself "the comeback kid," though he came in second in New Hampshire. As his wife's campaign stumbles and loses momentum in the same state her aids are recalling how Bill got through his near-death experience, to portray Hillary as the "comeback girl." But, in the meantime, Hillary's campaign is facing a wave of defection of her supporters to Barrack Obama. Hillary is clearly now wobbling as her backers turn to Obama and the aura of "inevitability" about her nomination fades.
Barrack Obama does not have much experience in elective office, nor are his achievements in the Senate considered remarkable. Nevertheless, he is charismatic, and brings into the contest a refreshing face and a record untarnished by political sleaze. His multi-racial heritage, his vibrant youth, and exposure to several cultures in his chequered early life are seen as assets when reaching out to other nations and to people of other religions.
According to William Daley, Bill Clinton's secretary of commerce as well as a prominent Obama backer: "He (Obama) is an extremely talented young fellow who I have watched grow. He can strongly convey to the world that there is a different generation and a different style about America."
As described in his best-selling book, Dreams from my father, he was candid in admitting that he was the son of a Kenyan Muslim and a white Christian American mother. His parents divorced and his mother remarried, this time to an Indonesian student. Obama accompanied the couple when they moved to Jakarta, where his early education started.
Although Obama is not shy of his Muslim ties, he categorically stated that he was a Christian. Yet, a smear campaign on the internet paints him as a closet Muslim who, as a child, attended a madrassa in Indonesia where Taliban-like extremism was taught -- an allegation that can be fatal for Obama in post nine-eleven America. The right-wing Islamophobes of America hope that in the country's post- 9/11 climate the mere suspicion of his Muslim connection will ensure his defeat.
Such a notion is reinforced by another unusual feature of the current campaign; the degree to which religion has permeated electoral politics. Several commentators have already highlighted the contrast in this regard between Europe and America in the 21st century. While Christianity is losing its hold on the European population, as evidenced by cathedrals empty of worshippers, religion in America has assumed an increasingly greater role and primacy in public life.
All candidates in the current election express their piety and their devotion to their faith and also try to outdo each other in their religiosity -- a recent phenomenon and uneasy development in a country that is supposed to have ironclad separation between religion and affairs of the state.
The US constitution, in its first amendment, prohibited state support for the establishment of a religion -- a stipulation further articulated and reinforced by Thomas Jefferson, the third US president. However, much of the recent invocation of religion can be attributed to the increasing enthusiasm of the fundamentalist Evangelical Christians. Their activities were openly promoted by the Republicans during Bush's presidency, which, inspired by the neo-conservatives, produced a heady mix of religion and politics. The result is that an obscure Baptist Christian preacher Rev.
Mike Huckabee surged forward in the polls in Iowa on the strength of his religious background. This trend has already distorted the secular character of American polity. Unless checkmated, the entire civilisational achievement of the great nation will be at stake.
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