Two views of November 4

Some people – actually a lot of people – think that if Barack Obama becomes the next president of the United States it will mark an important moment in the life of American democracy and society. The fact of having elected an Afro-American to the highest office of the land will be a most significant one for a country with a history scarred by slavery and racism. In today’s Observer Keith Richburg puts forward this view. He goes further indeed, seeing America’s example as path-breaking for many other countries.

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If, on the other hand, you want a view of an opposite kind – you know, that it really makes no difference to anything – you will know in what general quarter to look. Try Alexander Cockburn, for example, writing on ‘Obama, the first-rate Republican’:

So no, this is not an exciting or liberating moment in America’s politics.

Try John Pilger:

Obama’s job is to present a benign, even progressive face that will revive America’s democratic pretensions, internationally and domestically, while ensuring nothing of substance changes.

You can see why, for commentators like these, it makes sense to speak of democratic pretensions, when the choices seemingly before the US electorate are of no consequence at all.