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Letter from America

Who's going to be Super(wo)man?

At the time of writing we have just been through ‘Super Tuesday’. It’s been a fascinating series of Presidential primaries, as the Democratic hopefuls for their party’s nomination dish out to each other, and the Republicans likewise. Mitt Romney has suspended his candidacy.

And so we have left in the field McCain, who appears at the moment to be certain to win, against Huckabee (R), and Clinton against Obama (D).

The Clinton Ð Obama contest is perhaps the most intriguing. In the one corner there is Hilary with her long track record of experience (at least it is that which her campaign is emphasising). Someone joked to us recently that at least if it ended up being Clinton President we’d know what it was like for her to be President already (trading on the rather more than usual authority she appeared to wield as First Lady while her husband Bill was President). In the other corner, there is Obama who is being tagged as the ‘inspiration’ candidate. He seems to have this knack for motivating people and he’s constantly talking about ‘change’ and being the best candidate to bring the needed change to the government.

Republican dramas

Mind you, the Republican primaries have not been without their dramas. McCain was thought to be out cold, before making a remarkable resuscitation. And Huckabee, who appears to be without the national backing required for the nomination, would nonetheless make an interesting counterpart on the ticket with McCain, perhaps as his Vice-President, pulling in the ‘evangelical’ votes of the South, with Huckabee’s background as a Southern Baptist pastor.

There’s some encouragement for neutral observers, in that the fantastically wealthy Romney was unable by sheer weight of money to force his way further into the election process. Money, of course, still counts (Obama is rumoured to have raised $1 million a day in January), but money alone won’t work, there needs to be that additional political connection at a level and in a way that is not simply up for sale.

No oval office for us

For evangelical Christians, it appears unlikely that there will be another professed evangelical born again candidate in the Oval Office, unless Huckabee performs an improbable last dash to the finishing line. I guess evangelical opinion on that will be divided. Some, no doubt, will look at McCain, for the Republicans if he does, indeed, become their candidate, and wonder about his ‘values’ credentials. Others, I’m equally sure, may breathe a sigh of relief after the less than stellar impact on the reputation of evangelicals that the last incumbent bequeathed.

All in all, interesting. Watch this space.
Josh Moody