Politics American Style

Eye Opener

By Sunday Post

 In American politics, despite the heavy campaigning and  exchange of attacks when  the decision is made in the primaries, the opposing candidates irregardless of the bitterness  of the political debate, close ranks and support the winning  presidential candidate.

 For the sake of saving her face, the Democratic  party convention  conducted a roll vote of the chosen delegates and allowed votes to be cast for Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. But when it was the turn of the New York delegation to vote, Hilary Clinton took over the microphone not to announce that with all the bitterness of the past confrontation that she was going to continue her presidential ambitions come what may, instead she graciously moved to end the agony of the roll call vote  and instead appealed to the delegates to declare as unanimous the election of Barack Obama as the presidential candidate. Her husband, who as not the best person pleased by the results of the Democratic primary also gave a speech in the convention supporting Barack Obama. Of course, as expected the rancor brought about by the harsh political contests in the Democractic primaries have not died down, and they would prefer to vote for Mr. John McCain than vote for Obama.

 There many imponderables  in the coming elections. Firstly, people are asking who is really  leading in the race with a few months left for campaigning. Some pundits say anything can happen. A win in key states which deliver the big bulk of the votes. This is not about popularity, a candidate who might be the most popular candidate might win a plurality of votes but if he lost in the states where  the most electoral votes are located, he will still lose the elections as has befallen  democratic presidential candidate and former Vice-President Albert Arnold Gore Sr. He lost also by a decision of the Supreme Court which favored George Bush.

 Issues there are too many them.  Questions like who is the candidate who can safeguard the security of America from the terrorists. After the Sept 11 bombing, nobody is sure already. Anything can happen.

 Will there be a total pullout of the US troops  in Iraq and Afghanistan and announce the end of the war in these two countries. Whom of the two candidates has a serious program and strategy to locate and kill Hosanna Bin Laden. That he is still alive until today is what many people hate about George Bush.

 On immigration which is a very highly debatable issue, will McCain be able to allow foreigners to come to the United States and solve their manpower shortages so much so that many jobs are not outsourced to other countries because US don't  have enough people to do the jobs.  Who is the president who can stop the deluge of Mexicans crossing over the bakod every night. I was told in the borders of Mexico and Texas, there are underground tunnels where Mexicans go the USA during the day and go home to Mexico during the night.

 What shall an incumbent administration do on the financial and mortgages failure which have driven out many Americans from their mortgaged homes, Some people say it is no longer a land of milk and honey. Some Filipino American retirees have gone home to the Philippines and using their pensions to survive on a cheaper scale in the Philippines.

 Will the incoming American president allow drilling offshore and utilize the inventory of millions of liters of gasoline stored underground. Will an American  president allow the construction of nuclear power plants to minimize the dependence of Americans on foreign oil?

 On election day, many of these issues will be resolved by the winning President. And the basic difference that while television and money will be the critical factors in the American elections, there are no vote buying  and poll terrorism.  

 Who is going to win, maybe for the time being Barack Obama is leading but who knows John McCain will catch up. Did Sarah Palin, the estatic two-year governor of Alaska help McCain maybe yes, but in the final analysis the Americans will realize that Palin aside from her womanly charm, a darling of the media has nothing much of solid experience to offer the American people.