Change is nigh and the world is watching the US presidential race with increasing interest. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both managed to stay in the race with considerable grace. Having read the writings of both the leaders it is difficult for me to tell who has more promise. Obama’s Audacity of hope and Clinton’s Living history both tell us how safe the world would be if either of the two come to power. But while we still cannot say who will win the race, one thing is for sure. We now know that the democratic vote is divided right in the middle.

It means that if the democrats have to tap their vote fully they will have to think beyond this race and focus on the White House instead. It may sounnd a bit premature but has the democratic vote not told these two leaders what it wants? The need for the two leaders to team up and wage the war for a return of the Democrats? Who wins in the race might be clear in a few weeks but what do you do with the one who loses? The one who loses could naturally be the candidate for the post of the vice president. I know to the conservative ears this sounds absurd. A woman teaming up with an African American? But honestly of all the people the conservatives need to be silenced for the current chaos is their creation.

The US today needs not merely a change but a dramatic change to bring things back in order. The American people should know that if this doesn’t happen they themselves may remain under grave threat. If you don’t know what the neo-cons and the Fox News culture can do to you, please recall Christorpher Reeve (our good old Superman who died immediately after the last presidential debate, heartbroken).

The prospect of such a synergy however dismays me about one curious loss. I have developed liking for Joe Biden. Until now I had hoped that the front runner would be clear and then Biden could work as his/her VP candidate but since he has declared, or so I have heard, that he would not be a candidate for the VP post, one can hope that a person of such a clibre can be the country’s Secretary of State.

Let us focus now on the Republican candidacy. The outcome is now clear and with great hope. McCain is the best candidate one could have hoped to lead the Republicans. But there are still some very important loopholes. Any Republican candidate cannot deny the fact that as long as he can win the neo-cons would have ways to reinvent themselves and return to power. McCain could distance himself from the neo-cons by bringing a victim of their conspiracies as his vice president. Let us for a second think who. Hmm if I were an American voter there is one man I would have voted blindly for no matter in which boat he stood: yes, you have guessed it right: General Colin Powell.

The world has become a dangerous village and we need truckloads of hope. The US has a great chance of returning to the mantle of the world’s moral leader by choosing well. And through this note I want to answer those of my critics who think that I am lean on the western critical analyses of the Pakistani political situation. Folks, the world is a shrinking place and the west also is ready to listen to us in its own domestic matters. Let us then join hands and defeat the reductionist forces of neo-conservatism everwhere. The time to act is now and let us forget all divisions to fight for our collective survival.
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