Game On.

So here we are. After what has been the longest primary race certainly in my memory,
we finally have the two men (yes, MEN) that will square dance around each other for the rest of the year until the US public chooses a replacement for George W Bush.

So, before the bell rings for a new round I thought I'd add a few thoughts about the story until now.

Firstly, commiserations to Hillary. You really have to take your hat off to her for her resilience (doggedness?), even if you can't agree with her policies or have doubts about her integrity/credibility. Who would have thought that she wouldn't be the one sparring with McCain when we first started the primary process? Although I have serious doubts about Hillary, in my estimation I still think that it would be a bigger 'symbolic step' to have a female US president than it would be to have an African American one.

Which is of course not to take away from Obama, or to suggest that this election is all about image and not substance. I have to say that Obama has impressed me over the course of the campaign, although as with most hyped newcomers I was initially a little wary of him. Obama strikes me as determined, articulate and, dare I say it, inspirational. The sort of person who commands rock-star receptions and causes skeptics like myself to ask themselves, 'Is it okay to believe in him?' Although the debate will be endless, I still think in the end that the stronger campaign won. Obama has surrounded himself with good advisors (temporal, not spiritual), has maintained his image of integrity tightly and overall been more innovative than any of the other candidates: his ability to cobble together wide cross-sectional support and outraise Hillary through the use of the internet were masterstrokes. Of course time will tell whether this political Roscharch test is in fact his own man and not just an icon for people to project their hopes onto, but if he can overcome as fierce a contender as Hillary with his dignity (and majority) in tact, he's got a damn good shot at being the real thing.

Which brings us to the Republican side. I have to say that I am glad to see McCain as the nominee - I wasn't particularly impressed with any of the other candidates, apart from perhaps the sheer tenacity of Mitt Romney. I'm also yet to be convinced to join the outsider's outsider, Ron Paul. Although I know that McCain will be wanting to put as much distance between himself and George Bush as possible, I might dare say that McCain to me represents what Bush should have been - a true 'compassionate conservative', a man of the people who neither shirked the issue of war nor rushed into it. One can only wonder what the world would be like if a vicious smear campaign hadn't sunk McCain's 2000 bid. I'm no strategic expert, but I dare say that McCain might be expected to have handled the events post 9/11 with much greater finesse and statemanship than the current president did.

And thus finally we arrive at the silent elephant in the room, the 43rd president of the United States: George W Bush. He was always going to be hated by some, and right from the word go his administration was never going to be uncontroversial. Although sensitivity to the current state of affairs requires a more sombre assessment, the intellectual side of me remains fascinated by the Bush years: the unexpected turns, the dramatic and sudden shifts, the sheer breadth of issues presided over and of course the collapse. But at the end of the day, no matter what you think of George Bush personally, the Presidency of the United States is far too important a job for mistakes. May history correct me, but I believe that the presidency of George Bush was a grave misstep for America.

The question of how the US chooses to take its next step is one which begins consideration in earnest today.

Postscript:
Out of interest, I found an interesting article today profiling the similarities between the two candidates that lie below their vastly different exteriors: http://www.slate.com/id/2181521/.