US Presidential - race of minnows in pursuit of power

core

First - yes - I am in UK and have no vote and possibly no right to overly criticise. Be that as it may I must comment that the candidates available for the US voters do not stand out as world leaders, neither are Kennedys, Eisenhowers, or even Nixons. Is this choice the best that the US has to offer itself ? Where there no candidates of stature available or did the prospect of having your every movement and history dissected (and also your family and friends under the microscope as well) put of some who could be seen as world leaders - neither of the two on offer seem to be such over here and as history shows American Presidents terms of office are usually almost entirely taken up with world (non-domestic) affairs then was there not a better choice. McCain choosing Palin frightens the hell out of me. Obama seems to be full of rhetoric. Well I suppose its one or the other but is US Politics so short of men/women of stature that these two are the only option?

I wonder if some more suitable candidates are happy to keep skeletons in cupboards rather than stand for the highest office and the scrutiny that goes with it.

DaCheech

in america the only thing that kills a candidate is a moral scandal. people and papers care more about clintons BJ than all the good he is.

what a shame

LovesDubs

Kennedy was elected because he was a Catholic, had good hair and a pretty wife. He had NO morals at all. He was very young, had money too...not necessarily a race that you need experience in.

Mulan

Kennedy was elected because he was a Catholic, had good hair and a pretty wife. He had NO morals at all. He was very young, had money too...not necessarily a race that you need experience in.

Well, you were very young at the time, I see. I was 15 when he was elected and I remember it all very well. Even though we were JW's, my father followed politics closely, and we talked about that race all the time. Kennedy wasn't elected because he was a Catholic.............it was in spite of being one. It was a huge discussion point back then and actually a handicap for him.

All in all, he was a very good President. We didn't know about his morals, obviously, until long after his death. The media weren't allowed to release all the information they knew in those days.

TopHat

I beg to differ...Sarah Palin is about the most sane candidate of the bunch.

talley

We, unfortunately, let the most qualified candidate considering business, economy, management, and of 'world leader' potential get clean away; that man is Mitt Romney. Whatever.... we will get "what our ignorance and class envy deserves".

So I have to agree with "core's" assessment of this sad situation - a choice between two discouraging choices, discouraging for us and for the rest of the world.

aligot ripounsous

the candidates available for the US voters do not stand out as world leaders

True, this is an opinion that is fairly common on this side, concerning past US presidents (including Kennedy whom, historians say, was an outright crook, having cheated on getting his university degrees, on his WW 2 heroic deeds and was allegedly shot by the mafia on account of having not carried out a previous arrangement with them). Now, can we safely say that all the heads of states that European countries produce are of planetary stature ? When a country produces 2 or 3 of those within a century, it can be satisfied, and they usually reveal themselves in war time, which thing we don't really need just to prove the point. IMO, this shared european opinion is due to the fact that we don't really know American political people and, to us, they look like second fiddles, which they likely are not. Another explanation, far less flattering, is that some of those pale presidents, guess who, have been mere puppets in businessmen's hands, being ready to start wars and send the country's kids to death just to secure oil supplies.

As for the current candidates, we can be entitled to think that McCain has disqualified himself and displayed his poor judgement when he chose Palin. Obama is another matter altogether. He represents intelligence in power (valid content can be wrapped in articulate rhetoric), America being reconciled with its history and, yes, he will be soundly supported by his brilliant wife. If only those nazy fools can be kept off his way.