With the race for the US presidency at full throttle, change for the America that has often been characterised as arrogant and lazy is just around the corner. But will the vote be decided on policies, or the colour of a person’s skin?
Barack Obama today won his ninth consecutive victories in the state primaries, now giving him the support of 24 states, compared to Hilary Clinton’s 13. He’s now the strong favourite to win the Democrat nomination for the presidential elections in November this year, and to the outsider’s eye, it seems that American voters have finally become sick of 8 years of warmongering and conspiracy surrounding the Bush administration, and want some definable change. However, are they voting on the basis of the polices of their candidates, or will the election be biased on the colour of a candidates skin, or their gender? Sure, this would bring about a moderate amount of change, but if Barack Obama becomes president only because of his heritage, then America won’t have gotten what its voters thought they were, and no real progress will be made.
The progress that has been made since Martin Luther made his speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial is still undeniable, and the fact that a black politician can be considered for the presidency of the most powerful nation on Earth is a sign of this, a true realisation of the American Dream, a true measure of equality in a world so unfair. One hopes that, it will show the world how, even the ever-pushy American tourist can show some degree of equality and unification under a common banner, one made up of many different colours and tongues. However, watching the news broadcasts, I can’t help wondering if Americans are basing their votes because they honestly want to see a change from the stale upper-class politician with his conservative values, or whether they only want to see a black person take the reins. If this is the case, they will be sadly disappointed, especially, if in true politician style, Mr Obama doesn’t come through on his promises to repair the relationship with Mexico and withdraw American troops from Iraq.
Eve with these doubts, I think that Barack Obama will win the presidency, and that he will bring real changes around in Washington. The fact that, in Florida, where the population is 93% white, Obama won a landslide victory shows this. Hopefully, with a new White House administration, some form of sense can be returned to the circus show that George Bush has turned the world into.
