WHILE India’s attention is focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, Americans are mesmerised by what has been described as the greatest show on earth, the presidential election. The four-year election cycle campaign grows longer and, in the present instance, bitterness among contestants and parties is sharper and the role of the jester has been magnified a hundredfold.
Indeed, much of the punditry in campaign analysis has been seeking to divine the pull of the brash reality tycoon Donald Trump who, according to past form, should have receded to the background at this stage. Instead, he continues to defy forecasts, retains his top position in the crowded field of Republican aspirants even as he makes outrageous comments against women, his fellow contenders and anyone else who takes his fancy.
Experts believe this is a vote against political correctness and for a person who speaks his mind, however crudely, his appeal is his gumption to spear all the holy cows. In essence, to a large number of American citizenry fed up with the standard run of politicians saying what they are expected to and after winning an election, reverting to what politicians do, feather their own nests.
Despite the larger than life space Trump continues to occupy, few expect him to end up as the Republican presidential candidate. The major candidate is Jeb Bush, the third in the family to take a shot at the presidency. Many other Republicans are his fellow aspirants and there is even a measure of fatigue in persisting with a family in the top job. The irony, of course, is that Democrats too have a dynasty problem in Hillary Clinton —wife of former President Bill and President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State during his first term — aspiring to be President.
It is still a long way to go, but harsh winds are lashing at her second attempt to win the crown. She had lost out to Mr Obama the last time she tried. Her bugbear this time is her conducting official business as Secretary of State on her private server. After prevaricating for long, she finally apologised for her mistake even as official agencies continue to dig evidence that far from being confined to personal matters, she conducted official secret business on her offending server.
Mrs Clinton has acquired a ghost scrutinising her campaign performance, Vice-President Jo Biden whose dying son had told his father that he should run for presidency. Publicly, he has assumed the role of a Hamlet not knowing whether to throw his hat into the ring. Obviously, he is also keeping an eye on Hillary’s difficulties in overcoming the email scandal.
If Hillary was before the email storm a shoo-in candidate for the Democrats, she is no longer so but she remains a formidable contender nevertheless. Women, who exert great influence over the outcome of a presidential election, are solidly for her, stirred by the excitement of having the first woman President of the country. Second, she has collected an impressive war chest knowing well that money is the essential lubricant in winning an election. Mr Trump has no such problems, having plenty of dollars of his own to spend on his campaign.
Mr Jeb Bush, on the other hand, started his campaign on a low note, perking up a little in the meantime in the face of Mr Trump leading the Republican polls and taking all the bows. He is hoping that finally when the Trump bubble bursts, he will ride the popularity charts and trade on his administrative experience as a state governor. But a lot of work lies ahead of him and he has still to surmount his handicap of belonging to the tribe of two Bushes having held the highest office.
However, American political analysts are raising a larger question: What are the reasons for a seeming popular disillusionment with politicians in general? The cheap jibe of President Obama being a Muslim (Mr Trump refused to correct it when a supporter made the preposterous claim) has got mixed up with the US announcement that it was taking in more Syrian refugees, overwhelming Europe and their alleged extremist tendencies.
There is besides a raging debate on the stagnant incomes of the middle classes even as the rich get wealthier by the day. Indeed, the levels of dissatisfaction with growing inequality between the haves and have-nots are a political factor political parties are forced to contend with. The point is that it is not only the poor and the marginalised who are rebelling but a crucial section of voters who have joined forces to register its disapproval.
Mr Trump has, of course, given in to populism that is sustaining his poll figures by taking potshots at illegal Mexican immigrants, reportedly 11 million strong, and proposing to build a wall along the border to fortify the US. In an act of showmanship, he even flew along the border. His other favourite ploy is to propose that children of illegals should not enjoy the privilege of receiving American citizenship.
What is particularly galling to serious candidates is that the silly season in American campaign rhetoric has gone on for far too long. Thus far it has thrown up more chaff than grain and pushed to the background the serious issues meriting discussion. Granted that exaggeration and posturing are built into the DNA of an American presidential election, lampooning has taken on a form that is beginning to pall. If Mr Trump still provides comic relief to sections of voters, he has outlived his place in the sun.
As President Obama enters his final year of office, the political establishment is already making preparations for the changeover, not least in the US-Israeli relationship. The White House victory over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the US-Iran nuclear deal against a solid phalanx of Republican opposition has left its mark and will play out before the next incumbent takes office. But the campaign circus must first enter a serious phase.
Indeed, much of the punditry in campaign analysis has been seeking to divine the pull of the brash reality tycoon Donald Trump who, according to past form, should have receded to the background at this stage. Instead, he continues to defy forecasts, retains his top position in the crowded field of Republican aspirants even as he makes outrageous comments against women, his fellow contenders and anyone else who takes his fancy.
Experts believe this is a vote against political correctness and for a person who speaks his mind, however crudely, his appeal is his gumption to spear all the holy cows. In essence, to a large number of American citizenry fed up with the standard run of politicians saying what they are expected to and after winning an election, reverting to what politicians do, feather their own nests.
Despite the larger than life space Trump continues to occupy, few expect him to end up as the Republican presidential candidate. The major candidate is Jeb Bush, the third in the family to take a shot at the presidency. Many other Republicans are his fellow aspirants and there is even a measure of fatigue in persisting with a family in the top job. The irony, of course, is that Democrats too have a dynasty problem in Hillary Clinton —wife of former President Bill and President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State during his first term — aspiring to be President.
It is still a long way to go, but harsh winds are lashing at her second attempt to win the crown. She had lost out to Mr Obama the last time she tried. Her bugbear this time is her conducting official business as Secretary of State on her private server. After prevaricating for long, she finally apologised for her mistake even as official agencies continue to dig evidence that far from being confined to personal matters, she conducted official secret business on her offending server.
Mrs Clinton has acquired a ghost scrutinising her campaign performance, Vice-President Jo Biden whose dying son had told his father that he should run for presidency. Publicly, he has assumed the role of a Hamlet not knowing whether to throw his hat into the ring. Obviously, he is also keeping an eye on Hillary’s difficulties in overcoming the email scandal.
If Hillary was before the email storm a shoo-in candidate for the Democrats, she is no longer so but she remains a formidable contender nevertheless. Women, who exert great influence over the outcome of a presidential election, are solidly for her, stirred by the excitement of having the first woman President of the country. Second, she has collected an impressive war chest knowing well that money is the essential lubricant in winning an election. Mr Trump has no such problems, having plenty of dollars of his own to spend on his campaign.
Mr Jeb Bush, on the other hand, started his campaign on a low note, perking up a little in the meantime in the face of Mr Trump leading the Republican polls and taking all the bows. He is hoping that finally when the Trump bubble bursts, he will ride the popularity charts and trade on his administrative experience as a state governor. But a lot of work lies ahead of him and he has still to surmount his handicap of belonging to the tribe of two Bushes having held the highest office.
However, American political analysts are raising a larger question: What are the reasons for a seeming popular disillusionment with politicians in general? The cheap jibe of President Obama being a Muslim (Mr Trump refused to correct it when a supporter made the preposterous claim) has got mixed up with the US announcement that it was taking in more Syrian refugees, overwhelming Europe and their alleged extremist tendencies.
There is besides a raging debate on the stagnant incomes of the middle classes even as the rich get wealthier by the day. Indeed, the levels of dissatisfaction with growing inequality between the haves and have-nots are a political factor political parties are forced to contend with. The point is that it is not only the poor and the marginalised who are rebelling but a crucial section of voters who have joined forces to register its disapproval.
Mr Trump has, of course, given in to populism that is sustaining his poll figures by taking potshots at illegal Mexican immigrants, reportedly 11 million strong, and proposing to build a wall along the border to fortify the US. In an act of showmanship, he even flew along the border. His other favourite ploy is to propose that children of illegals should not enjoy the privilege of receiving American citizenship.
What is particularly galling to serious candidates is that the silly season in American campaign rhetoric has gone on for far too long. Thus far it has thrown up more chaff than grain and pushed to the background the serious issues meriting discussion. Granted that exaggeration and posturing are built into the DNA of an American presidential election, lampooning has taken on a form that is beginning to pall. If Mr Trump still provides comic relief to sections of voters, he has outlived his place in the sun.
As President Obama enters his final year of office, the political establishment is already making preparations for the changeover, not least in the US-Israeli relationship. The White House victory over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the US-Iran nuclear deal against a solid phalanx of Republican opposition has left its mark and will play out before the next incumbent takes office. But the campaign circus must first enter a serious phase.
![[JUGRAJ SINGH]](https://www.unp.me/data/avatars/s/123/123038.jpg?1591210006){kind=avatar}