The nominations of candidates by the Democrats and Republicans are interesting developments that are bound to lead to an intriguing battle in the US presidential election in November. The signals coming through in the choice of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump suggest huge sociological changes having taken place in the most powerful country, leaving the rest of the world to wonder what is happening out there. While the choice of a woman as a candidate is path-breaking in the history of the world’s oldest democracy, it is not all that surprising because the Democrats nominated a black man, Barack Obama, who has been President for the last eight years after beating Ms Clinton to the nomination.
It is the advent of the maverick real estate mogul Donald Trump that lends an edge to this contest even as the world, including the Americans’ closest allies in Nato, are worried at the mere prospect of someone like him occupying the White House. The Republicans, boasting of a President like Abraham Lincoln who fought against slavery, are not like the Tories, or the RSS for that matter. And yet Mr Trump gives goosebumps to many sections, like American blacks, Muslims, Mexicans and offshore job holders working for America Inc. If aged whites were the only ones forming the electorate, Mr Trump would be a shoo-in for President. But there has been such a transformation in American society, in which a true melding of races has taken place, that
Mr Trump begins the race marginally behind Ms Clinton, whose husband Bill must be looking forward to an interesting role as “First Gentleman” of the US in a residence on Pennsylvania Avenue that he is quite familiar with. It is Nato, the alliance of Western capitalism and guardian against Russian power, that must worry the most about the possible outcomes of Mr Trump gaining the presidency.
There is an inspirational tale in Hillary cracking the glass ceiling, although why it took so long after true universal suffrage, which dates back at least to 1965, took root is among the questions thrown up in what is going to be an eventful race to the White House after the former secretary of state beat off Bernie Sanders, himself quite a phenomenon in the race as an extreme socialist.
Ms Clinton, whose policies are well-known, has been a popular visitor to India, but her global relationships may change drastically regardless of the November result. There are no assumptions to be made, particularly since India’s foreign policy has been known to find better resonance in a Republican America or a Tory Britain. So much has changed, and so much more is likely to change, as a more people-friendly Hillary takes on Trump, who himself must believe he is up against the whole world in his bid to change America.
