Anders Hanson

The frustrating thing with the American presidential race is that all of the three (now two) leading Democrat candidates look like presidential material. Regardless of whether you agree with their political standpoint or whether you like them as people I think there is little doubt that Clinton, Obama and Edwards all have the right style, speaking ability and that special something that is hard to define that makes them all look like credible presidents.

I don’t feel the same about the Republican candidates. Perhaps that is because my own personal political opinions get in the way, but they don’t have that same pizzazz that the Democrats have, and they don’t generate a great excitement. McCain comes across as steady and reliable, Giuliani had something similar (before he made his huge error of judgement on entering the primaries so late) and even Huckabee, whose political views I can’t stand, has something about him. Romney I have to admit leaves me cold. But even though I can positive about some of them, none of them can match the Democrats. It is rather ironic that the Democrat candidates are clearly the best, given that it isn’t that many years since people said that the Democrats would struggle to recover after they had yet another disastrous set of elections for president and congress.

The issue for Democrats on who to pick is difficult. I can see huge benefits in both Clinton and Obama, but the thing that I keep coming back to is that if Barack Obama doesn’t win now, will he ever win? And if that is the case, will we miss never having seen what an Obama presidency would be like?

It is rare for losing candidates in a presidential election or a leadership election in a political party to get a second chance. Of course it does happen occasionally, but if someone doesn’t get it the first time they run, it is usually the case that by the time they get a chance to run again someone else new and fresh has come along, or people have tired of the person who originally seemed so interesting. During the recent Lib Dem leadership election, many of the people backing Huhne tried to convince others to support him by saying that he was more ready to be leader, and Clegg was young enough to be the leader after him. Well, life doesn’t work like that. If Huhne had won and lasted ten years as leader, Clegg would no doubt have been superceded by another “bright young thing” like Julia Goldsworthy, Jo Swinson or someone who isn’t yet in parliament. The fact was, if you wanted to know what a Clegg leadership would be like, and if you felt the party would be worse off for never having had that opportunity, then he had to win we he did. The same applies to the Democrat presidential race, and the choice is simple but difficult to make. Which one out of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would you regret least if you had never seen them perform as president?

That is why I keep coming back to thinking that I would, if I had a vote, back Barack Obama. Yes it does worry me that we don’t know a huge amount about what he would do differently from anyone else, yes it does worry me that he isn’t hugely experienced, and yes it does worry me that he could be eaten alive by the Republicans in a presidential campaign. But at the end of the day, he is the one that has a definite difference in his style and approach that enthuses me and he is the one that I am most intrigued by. He is the one that I feel would be the biggest loss, were we never to have a chance of seeing what an Obama presidency would be like. It is partly down to his brilliant oratory, something that is underestimated as it is that sort of thing that can galvanize a nation and perhaps will help persuade congress to back measures that he wants to get through. He also does have a definite different stance on at least some policy areas such as Iraq. It is also, and I admit this is superficial, because he looks as though he would be a different sort of president whilst still having that special something that makes him look credible. That is something I really like in a candidate even if there is sometimes little behind it other than the fact that they are not just another white, middle-class man, and is exemplified by my enthusiasm for Ségolène Royal who in her politics was very much typical French political establishment, but I liked her because at least she looked and sounded different and talked about politics differently. But with Obama it is most of all because I can see him standing a better chance of beating John McCain than Hillary Clinton, something that I think is hugely important.

I admit that it is an unfortunate trend in politics now that if you have been picked out as a star you have to scramble your way to the top as quick as possible. But that is the way things are now, and it means that rather than being ready made for the top job, you have to simply show the potential. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as one of the business mantras I like is that you should “hire for attitude, train for skill”. But that was inspired by recruiting people to work for an airline, rather than running the most powerful country in the world.

I would rather have a president of the United States who can go straight in to the job and be able to change things from day one, but I feel even more strongly that if Barack Obama never has a chance to run for president the world will have missed out in an even bigger way.