No more dynasties— Obama is the man

WE are at long last getting into real time in the US presidential primaries and caucuses.

Hopefully — by November of next year at the latest — Americans will have halted the murky march of White House dynasties and made a fresh start. For such is badly needed and possible. The legacy of the respective excesses of the Bush and Clinton eras and a yearning for a new world perspective must inform the choosing of the leader of the mightiest nation.

The skirmishing is over, and the debate ahead between candidates and parties simply cannot let America and the world down. A handful of both Republican and Democratic aspirants are dominating the scene so far, but it is important that others come through and be heard.

Official Ireland seems to be implicitly backing the realisation of a Clinton dynasty. Being the nominal frontrunner in her party, she fails to come more than evens in the polls with prospective nominees from the incumbent, discredited Republicans.

As for the symbolism alone of Barack Obama in the Oval Office, it has been said by the commentator Andrew Sullivan that “if you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonisation of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face and background get close”.

In this sense, he is the candidate who most mirrors the 21st century.

Oliver McGrane

32 Marley Ave

Rathfarnham

Dublin 16