Click to play videoDemocrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain faced the verdict of US voters on Tuesday after a long and bitter struggle for the White House, with Obama holding a decisive edge in national opinion polls.
Opinion polls indicate Obama is running ahead of McCain in enough states to give him more than the 270 electoral votes he needs to win.
And that brings us to the question of the day that was asked on CNN-IBN show Face the Nation: Eve of historic election – has Obama's time come?
On the panel of experts to debate the issue were acclaimed author and commentator on American politics Zachary Karabell, former diplomat Neelam Deo and Professor of Christ Church College in Kanpur AK Verma.
Who will become the next leader of the free world? Either way, this election, which was the longest and most expensive campaign ever in America, is being seen as a forward movement in history.
History in the making
Karabell began the debate by saying that about 120 million people have voted so far which means the highest percentage in the 20th Century.
Right wing magazine like The Economist have endorsed and said that it is time for change in America. They, too, have endorsed Barack Obama. Does the US need Obama at this point?
“It is clear after Iraq and the financial crisis that this has been a very difficult decade for the US. It is a nameless decade. Every decade has something that it is referred by. The last few years of the new millennium has not gone America’s way. So everything now is a repudiation of what has been going on for the last eight years. There is now a strong passionate desire to move ahead in a constructive fashion,” Karabell said.
What does it say about race in America? Is the American voter ready to transcend racial identity or is it just a myth?
“What we have noticed is how little race has factored into the presidential race. Also, the immediacy of the economic problems have dwarfed issues of race. But it has been notably silent during campaigning. However, what is extraordinary about Obama is the way in which he is multi-racial and not simply one side or another. So it is pretty symbolic about race and the issues in the US,” Karabell explained.
Has Obama grown in stature through the campaign? He was a blanksheet when he began because people did not know who he was. He ran a brilliant campaign, he transcended race, his rhetoric is magnanimous and all these qualities have finally helped him in transcending his identity.
Karabell said, “It is clear now that people view him as a candidate for President. They don’t view him as a Black candidate for President. Most of the people who relate to him today are when they see who is a better candidate and not who belongs to which race. It’s not about voting for the Black or the White man. He has assumed a mantle of leadership, which even if under extraordinary circumstances he ends up losing he has proven the ability of an individual of mixed background to assume the biggest office.”
The central premise of Obama’s campaign seems to be a break from the past. Was that an accurate reading of the American mood?
“Obama has stayed away from the petty kind of commentary that politicians typically get into. That is not his modus operandi or the way he articulates his vision. That in itself is an unusual and positive sign,” Karabell said.
Commenting on Obama’s campaign, Karabell said, “It has been, as he has promised, an honourable campaign. It has been a very unusual and modern campaign. He hasn’t exhibited any kind of dirty politics.”
A columnist recently said that Americans are patriotic and dreamy but they are also very hardheaded. In the end, people will vote for him only if Obama is able to get them out of the economic ditch.
“By overwhelming margins Americans are saying that they trust Obama more than McCain to address the economic issues in this country,” Karabell explained.
As the debate gathered steam, Deo said that the policy positions that Obama assumed have given a lot of confidence to Americans.
“There is also this feeling that somehow he will be able to restore confidence just by being elected. Also, he has been immensely popular in the rest of the world and that help in making things for positive for him,” Deo said.
“The interesting thing about this election is that both candidates have been very well treated by the media. If you may recall that McCain always said that the media was his base. It is not that the media gave him an easy path but he got a fair coverage of his campaign,” Deo added.
This election is historical because Obama has managed to energise the youth.
Deo concluded the debate by saying, “In one of the battleground states in Ohia, on Monday, one million telephone calls were made to voters by unpaid volunteers. The fund-raising process has been transformed and it will never be the same. Also, the use of technology to reach out has been amazing. It is a new movement where there is immense involvement of the youth. This is a new phenomena in the US.”
Final results of the SMS poll:
Yes -84 per cent
No – 16 per cent
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