A strange US election

For all its contemporary billing in the US and global media as a historic elections, the US presidential elections of November 8, 2016 is the one I have been least passionate about probably since I was in secondary school!
Those familiar with this column may recall how many columns I devoted to writing about previous US elections, especially the 2008 edition in which Barack Obama became the first African-American leader of the United States of America. At the end of that process I gushed on this page, “We are all Americans”!

Unlike many Africans who still adore Obama, by the end of his first term, I had already tired of the Obama phenomenon-I thought he had misapplied a mandate for uniting America and transforming it in terms of education, infrastructure, competitiveness and renewed global strength into a social engineering experiment anchored on homosexuality, global appeasement and rhetoric without actions.

I do not define what has happened in the US and the world over the last eight years as progress-across the world global chaos and barbarism, and domestically, the so-called LGBTQ (I’m not even sure whatever the “Q” stands for and I’m certain it won’t stop at “Q”; soon there will be “RSTUVWXYZ” as the homosexual roller coaster continues downhill) agenda has so advanced that we are no longer sure about who can use which bathrooms in the United States of America!
In spite of my reservations about Obama’s rapidly unfolding liberal agenda, I still devoted more space to the 2012 contest between Obama and Mitt Romney than I have this one.

I have found very little that is edifying about the two contestants in this 2016 elections. Beyond the sentimental value of Hillary Clinton’s prospect of being the first woman president in the US, I regard her record as Secretary of State as very weak and a contributory factor towards the chaos the world has since experienced-in Libya, Syria, Iraq and in particular the rise of ISIS.

Clinton is so consumed by political correctness (and the millions of dollars she has received directly or indirectly through her husband’s Clinton Foundation from Arab-Muslim monarchies and regimes) that she has been and will be very ineffectual in confronting the challenge of global Islamist terrorism. I do also share the view that she and the Democrats exploit the African-American vote every election cycle with the substance of the black condition remaining unchanged or even getting worse; and her cynical, poll-watching, conviction-free politics is not one I can find myself able to admire.
Moreover at the beginning of the campaign season, there were two candidates who I felt Americans may be advised against electing to preserve the democratic character and essence of their political system-Jeb Bush whose father and brother had been presidents in recent times; and Hillary who was seeking to be the first person to take office as president after a spouse! In my view, it is in monarchies and oligarchies that the recurrence of family members in political office should be tolerated!
On the other hand, the Republicans have managed to select unstable and unpredictable Donald J Trump as their candidate out of a rich field of 17 experienced politicians that included Senators, Governors and former presidential candidates. My clear favourite within the initial Republican list was Senator Marco Rubio of Florida who I considered intelligent, charismatic and moderate enough to have easily won the general election.

I thought that if Rubio ran with Dr. Ben Carson as his running-mate, a new republican coalition of Whites, Hispanics and Black middle class as well as Evangelicals would emerge which may be unstoppable in US politics. In the event, I, like most analysts, underestimated the extent of voter disillusion both on the left (hence Senator Bernie Sanders surprisingly strong showing against Hillary in the Democratic primary) and on the right, against the political establishment.

The popular discontent was evidently higher on the Republican side hence the victory of Donald Trump in the Republican primaries and he now stands just one poll away from becoming the President of the United States.
The fact that Hillary Clinton has emerged in spite of Benghazi, ISIS, her email scandal and the Clinton Foundation “Pay-for-Play” allegations while Donald Trump’s candidacy has survived sex abuse scandals and other outrages suggests the US political system has significantly lowered its standards and expectations of its presidential candidates and presidents!

In prior elections (think President Richard Nixon, Senator Gary Hart, Senator Edward Kennedy, Ross Perot or Senator John Edwards!) candidacies were destroyed for far less! The emotional candidate of most African and global observers has been of course Hillary Clinton given reservations about Trump’s apparent unpredictability and his statements on immigration, trade, nuclear energy and terrorism; as well as perceptions in Africa that Hillary Clinton is the Obama candidate. Hillary’s husband, former President Bill Clinton is also seen in African-American and African circles as a friend.
Beyond the emotions however, I doubt that actual policy in relation to Africa would differ radically amongst the candidates. It is worthwhile to note that the enhanced US funding for AIDS in Africa and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) were Republican initiatives under George W Bush that have since enjoyed bipartisan support. Obama’s Power Africa initiative is similarly expected to be sustained irrespective of the outcome of the vote. Africa may of course be right to be discomfited by Trump’s anti-immigration stance though his inclination to be tougher on terrorism may benefit the continent. I expect Trump to be pro-energy investments which may lower oil prices but his platform of lower taxes, less regulation and freer markets may also benefit global markets.
For me in spite of all the hoopla, excitement and fear, my posture in this election has been “I abstain”! My major concern is the degree of division this campaign has revealed about America, a country that now appears electorally partitioned between whites, blacks and Hispanics; gays and evangelicals who oppose it; pro-abortion activists and pro-life campaigners; college and non-college educated voters; young millennials and older voters; immigrants and non-immigrant Americans etc. Whichever of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump prevails on this election night, America is too divided to be cohesive and to play the global role that the world expects of it.