While the entire world is waiting with bated breath, I wonder who will win over whom. The world believes that Obama will win. He is leading. But do not be surprised if McCain wins. It has happened before. He is surely better than Bush (anyone can be better than him, even a fifth grader) but the democracy that US boasts about is a little over-rated. The election and re-election of the moron is a testament to that or that majority of America is filled with idiots who don’t have their priorities right!
Jimmy Carter, ex-president of the US, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, is the founder of The Carter foundation which promotes and monitors the electoral processes in support of free and fair elections. They have already monitored 70 elections in more than 25 countries since its foundation. After Bush’s first regime, The Carter foundation was asked to monitor the elections in the US. Carter declined. He stated that the electoral process in the US is not free and fair and doesnot qualify for democratic elections in its present state.
So don’t be surprised if McCain wins.
But one thing is certain, whoever is elected has a tough task to undo a lot of things Mr. Bush has done. The downfall and the repercussions of a decade long rule by a moron has had its toll on the US.
So, I thought we should be pragmatic about the elections and wonder what the world might be if each of them got elected. It gives us a chance to see how good we are at our judgement. Five years down the line we can always compare what we expected and what actually happened. Here is my take. My analysis is based on the following points. There are many more, but i thought i will choose topics that are generic, and somethings I care about –
General personality, Taxation, Energy, War on terror, and India
McCain as President:
McCain is quite old, rather experienced. He has been a war hero and has the experience behind him as he has seen generations of Presidents come and go. Beeing from the military, he is ruled by orders, protocols and conventional methods of decision making. America is a country that has always been in a war – other people’s war. I always felt that the strategy was simple. Help other countries in their internal conflict, do them a favor and then modify their national policies in favor of the Americans. So that gives me a first indication that he should not be president. He will have a passion for war, not for peace, that take care for vested interests of the powerful weapon makers of the US and builds in roads into developing nations economy.
With regards to taxation, McCain wants to slash corporate taxes, and give breaks to middl-rich earners and cut capital gains tax. This statement I think should be seen under a microscope. Cutting corporate taxes is like a blade with a sharp edge on both the sides. In this dwindling economy, slashing corporate taxes can ease the pain on the companies and reduce the layoffs, but that thought is a hopeful one. The company owners will use it to their advantage. They will continue the layoffs and try to reduce their losses by exploiting the cuts on corporate taxes. With his stand on Capital Gains, I can see McCain preference is towards the middle-rich and the rich. So, another no for McCain.
McCain would continue Bush’s stand on his war on terror. This means more deployment of troops in Afghanistan and ha has stated that he has no preference to put up a timetable for retreating the troops. This validates my point earlier on his personality of a war veteran.
McCain also doesnot support subsidies on ethanol and other bio-fuels. Why doesn’t he support the alternative fuel industry? Is hurting the oil lobby going to be bad for his presidency? Again, is he becoming a president for the people of the country or for the powerful people of the country?
With reference to India, he would be the perfect president. The Nuclear deal will not change and the policies on outsourcing will not effect much to Indians who are now turning from smart engineers to dumb telephone receptionists… For the long run, I would like Indians to be self sufficient and not depend on outsourcing and shift their focus from service to manufacturing industry as the driver of the economy. Hence my preference to McCain would be another big no.
Well with the total no to McCain, I think the obvious choice becomes Obama, but without analysis it would be a disaster. What if his stand on the same topics were worse than that of McCain? Being an Indian, the meaning for democracy here is to choose the candidate that is going to create lesser problems for the people.
Obama is young and looks dynamic. His smile appeals and has a kind of positive aura. Young blood means taking risks, and treading unconventional paths. It might retaliate, but there are a lot of chances that the approach might bring out radical change. There is not much information I could gather about how Obama would take his decisions as a President, but I would like to take that chance and hope the Americans would too. Mostly his decision making would be a reflection of how he approaches the different topics and try to decipher his thinking methodology.
With regards to taxation, he wants to reduce income tax for middle classes and raise capital tax. I think with my earlier debate on McCain’s take on taxes, I am convinced, Obama is a President for the people. Less Income tax means more savings and higher Capital gain taxes means the wealthy have to fork out a bit more. Not a very painful approach.
On the war of terror, he is clearly put his stand strongly against terrorism, but what is more pleasing for the world is that he has charted out a sixteen month withdrawal of troop deployment from Iraq. He has also gone all out for stronger operations against the Taliban. His name rhyming to that of Osama, and the middle name of Hussein is also an interesting occurrence, which might also be of influence people on their views in the war on terror.
Obama heavily supports increase of subsidies on ethanol and biofuel subsidies. Again another point that he is the President for the people and not for ‘some’ powerful people.
India might not stand to benefit much if Obama is elected president. He would be opting for more internal jobs and would cut outsourcing, which will hugely affect the Indian economy. Also his stand on the Nuclear deal that supports India might be challenged by the democrats which can take the deal to troubled waters. Nevertheless India needs to know that they have to be self sufficient and not depend on another countries economy for its existence. So I would like to vote for Obama. But I am not on the electoral roll.
The world roots for Obama, and I would too, but it is up to the Americans. I hope they see what lies in the best interest of their people and also consider that there are other countries other than the US in this world!
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