YOUR LETTERS

NOW that the convention jamborees have come to an end, it is to be hoped that we will experience more light than heat in the next 60 days. It was depressing to observe how much could be achieved by vacuous and simplistic speech making.

It would appear that McCain has a slight lead in the polls at the moment, but that could be a combination of “going second” in the conventions and the initial Sarah Palin effect.

What is, in fact, really surprising is that the race is as close as it is. Conventional wisdom and indeed political history would conclude that after the disasters, both internationally and economically, of Bush and the Republicans this election year ought to be a “shoo-in” for the Democrats.

McCain has done well to distance himself from Bush and project his story of the American hero. We wait to see how sustainable that will be over the next 60 days, especially as the debate swerves toward the economy.

Obama's task is to add substance to the charisma. His messianic qualities plus his demonstrable tenacity in seeing off Hilary Clinton, ought to have seen him in the lead. Perhaps, in fact, he is still paying the price for beating Hillary and there is clearly a credibility gap on policy issues.

They both speak vaguely of change, they are both in their own ways “good guys” and have yet to speak substantively on policy. So perhaps the neck and neck is understandable.

However I wonder if there isn't something of a “Banquo's Ghost” at the debating table. It is remarkable that no one has seriously addressed the race issue. This is presumably for fear of being labelled racist but it seems to me to be dangerous that everyone is being so “cool”- “we don't speak about it because we have grown out of that sort of thing”. Each American voter is being asked, for the first time, to overcome one of two prejudices- race or sexism and the volatile nature of the voters especially in swing states could have a critical effect on the outcome.

The problem especially for Obama is that he may not know the real reason for his defeat until it is too late!

Dave Partridge
Pollensa