A few brief thoughts about the US election.

– I’ve never been a fan of Obama, all other things being equal I would be rooting for him to lose on Tuesday night. All other things are not equal, however; – one of the principal things that I don’t like about Obama is that I see him as a machine politician without any particularly strong guiding principles of his own; I suspect that he is personally corrupt; and most especially I see his policies as being driven by established vested interests in the various spheres. Crucially, Goldman Sachs alumni seem to have been in charge of the economic policy, and I’m not in favour of anything that favours the vampire squid;
– but what is the alternative? Romney is hardly someone to shake up the system and take on the vested corruption is he? To again refer to a Matt Taibbi article – yes I’m a fan – Romney is absolutely a product of the capitalist system, and a member of the financial elite. If we’re looking for a radical change of path, Romney is not the one to deliver it. If he wins the presidency, I don’t see any change of course on the horizon;
– hence, my preference would be for both to lose! Which won’t happen. The thing is, I suspect that – just as with the UK elections of 1992, the winner of the election will be inheriting a poisoned chalice, and that the 2012 election is a ‘good one to lose’. The magnitude and extent of the bad news falling on to the US is only going to increase – a superstorm Sandy in several spheres. Which is why I’m kinda-sorta rooting for Obama to just edge it, ideally in a contested election, that he wins through the electoral college and not via the popular vote;
– who would I rather see leading the US? Someone with a track record of opposing corrupt entrenched interests, ethical and pragmatic, and a committed belief to the highest values that the US represents; ideally someone who was also prepared to accommodate a decline in the US empire and recognise the Limits to Growth. Nobody qualifies on all those scores – but there is someone who does come close.