A captivating election race

“Hillary had the makings of a triumphant story,  but Obama tugged at the heart strings even more”

FORGET the Olympic Games, the All-Ireland football final and Riverdance in the TF. The greatest show on earth this year is happening in the US – and last week it cranked up a couple of gears.

The American presidential election only happens every four years, and it’s just as well or we’d never get any sleep over here in Ireland. The captivating quality of this elongated spectacle is difficult to fathom, carrying as it does most of the facets of electioneering we profess to hate during our own political contests. Hyperbolic rhetoric. Sentimentality. Insults. Overcooked emotion.

And many of the things we don’t have here at home, but we would probably hate if we did. Passionate and articulate spouses delivering rousing speeches. Picture-perfect children waving at adoring crowds. Adoring crowds, packed into huge football stadia. Huge crowds, screaming and waving placards.

For all the madness and the nauseating appeals to God to bless America, we can’t help loving it. Especially this time round with such a mix of characters involved.

For me, the person with the greatest potential as president is no longer in the race – Hillary Clinton. What she clearly lacks in warmth of personality, she makes up for with intelligence and steeliness of character. But the Americans are suckers for affability, common touch and triumph over adversity. And sadly for Hillary, while overcoming the handicap of being a woman had the makings of a pretty triumphant presidential story, the tale of Barack Obama, a black man from a broken family in Hawaii, tugged at the heart strings even more.

Being married to a former president who couldn’t keep his arrogance and prejudices to himself didn’t help her much either.

Still, through her bid for the Democratic nomination, she has done more for the future of women in politics than any woman who went before her. The irony, of course, is that while she paved the way to making the idea of a woman acceptable, it may be the Republicans who benefit.

What a master stroke it was by John McCain to name Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. After Hillary Clinton did the hard work involved in winning the hearts of millions of female voters, the Governor of Alaska – and McCain’s presidential hopes – will reap the rewards.

The self-styled ‘hockey mom’ and former beauty queen is the perfect antidote to McCain’s gruffness and his tough love style of combat. They also complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. He is withering with age but possessed of experience and – apparently – wisdom; she is youthful, full of energy and idealistic. He has fought for his country; she has battled against cronyism within her own party, on her own doorstep. In spite of her shininess, she is safe and conservative, while McCain is prone to wobbles.

It’s a perfect combination.

But by far the most fascinating player of all in this highly-charged drama is Barack Obama. Even if he fails to capture the hearts of enough of his fellow countrymen in November to see him lay claim to the White House, he has achieved more for black America than even his hero of 45 years earlier, Martin Luther King, did. He has done this by rising above race, presenting himself as the best candidate, not as someone who should be chosen because it’s time America had a black president.

He has not allowed his colour to compromise his dreams, but nor has he expected it to win him any favours. He is bright, articulate, visionary – in his rhetoric at least – and a man of warmth and charm.

Coupled with Joe Biden, he is an even stronger prospect for Washington. Biden may have made some gaffes in the past, but he’s a polished performer now. And he has the key thing Obama is accused of lacking – experience.

With so many competing personal stories, so much desire – and need – for real change in American politics, and so much time still left for skeletons to be extracted from the unlikeliest of closets, the next two months are sure to see more than the recommended daily amount of TV-watching in this country.

Let’s just hope none of us needs God urgently between now and November, because if he heeds the cries of his US brethren he’ll be flat out blessing America.