The Race Begins !!!!

Good evening!

Four years ago I had covered both the Democratic and Republican Primaries on my personal blog with the label “US Presidential Elections”. It was a wonderful phase in my life, as I happened to read and understand the many facets of American Politics, and learnt to appreciate Democracy the way it exists in the most powerful democracy on our planet. I was an ardent supporter of Senator John McCain (Rep.) even though I was slightly biased towards Congressman Ron Paul (Rep./Lib.). I was also in favour of Governor Sarah Palin (Alaska) for the position of VP. But it was not enough as President Obama and VP Joe Biden won the elections comfortably. Overall, the experience was intriguing and exciting.

This year, however, the incumbent Democrat President is running almost unopposed for a 2^nd term in the White House (more on that in a later post talking exclusively about the Democratic Presidential Primaries). But what makes this election equally interesting is “supposed non-availability” of a strong Republican candidate who can appeal to the core Republican base and at the same time has a broader appeal, broad enough to topple President Obama in the final Presidential elections to be held on 4^th November, 2012.

The 2008 win of President Obama was during a period of uncertainty and confusion. He gave hope and promised a thriving America. Instead the people felt betrayed by his bailout of American Banks and his going-back on his promise of bringing home the American troops waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead he gave them the Healthcare bill, which took a heavy beating in the Congress thanks to the Republicans. The bill also reinforced the till-then-dormant paranoia of President Obama trying to infuse Socialism in the American way of life.  Overall, Obama’s image took a solid beating, and less and less people were unsure if he should be given another term.

But what to do if there is not another alternative? That is still the dilemma among many of the Independent voters (around 25 to 30% of the electorate) who did not see anyone from the Republican-side who could do a better job than what Obama did. The radicalization of the Republican Party, with the advocate of the Tea Party members (the most notable ones being Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann) did not help the Republican cause of mobilizing supporters from all walks of life. Although the movement did attract many people, Most of them were already ardent supporters of the Republican Party, and did not add to the moderate numbers in the Republican camp.

So this year’s election is the Republicans’ to lose. If they manage to select a moderate conservative, they might just sneak past the post, but risk losing the support of the one they elected. If they select a radical right-winger, they might just lose in the final elections. But 8 months is a lot of time, and things change a lot. Let’s hope for the best.

Varun Reddy.