Let me take this opportunity to weigh in on the hottest and most chair-gripping Presidential campaign happening on the World Stage that will determine who takes over the Oval Office at the White House come January 2017. The hotly contested race is between Republican Business Mogul, Donald Trump and Democrat Former Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. The third contestant Gary Johnson is little known so I won’t dwell on him. 2016, after 200 years of Independence, is the first time a major party is fielding a Woman as a Presidential Candidate. It was not until 1920 that Women were allowed to vote in the USA and in 1929 in Britain despite boasting of very old democracies.
First of all, KUDOS to the Democrats for nominating their First Female Presidential Candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not only did she break that glass ceiling, she actually went right through to the Galaxy. Hillary embodies hope and a new high on aspirations for both middle aged women and young girls growing up in America today. They too can aspire to become President of the United States of America. The Gender card is one that she has not shied away from in the course of this campaign, whether it is enough to pull the election off is a discussion that we can revisit on November 10th, 2016.
On July 12th, 2016 the Presumptive Democrat Nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton had 77.9% of the polls in her favor and her counter the Presumptive Republican Nominee had 22.0% in his favor. Today, a little over 2 weeks later, Hillary Rodham Clinton is at 52.8% and Donald Trump is at 47.1%. This begs the question is this beginning of the end? Is this reversible? Bearing in mind that polls will be held on November 08, 2016?
The Republican Candidate Donald Trump on the other hand has no political experience to speak of but promises to singlehandedly deliver greatness back to America. The raw passion with which he articulates his position reminds me of someone who will get things done or die trying and woe be unto whoever gets in his way. The question that most Americans will need to answer is whether they need a bulldozer at their helm or a consensus builder.
Not too long ago, the position of the USA as a world leader was unchallenged and there were no contenders in sight. Today, that is not the case, there are close seconds; China and the European Union have emerged as possible world leaders. Therefore for the USA to maintain that position sobriety will have to prevail on the polling day.
At a Rotary Club of Muyenga Breeze meeting yesterday, Col. Felix Kulaigye made an observation that in the developing world the Politics determines the Economy and in the developed world, the Economy determines the Politics. Taking that into the US Election Context; have the Democrats done enough to retain their grip on the White House or have the Republicans convinced the Americans to give them a chance to fix what they spoilt 8 years? That is what we shall find out come November 08, 2016.
With more positives going for them, one would expect that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be leading with a double digit margin and she was a little over 2 weeks ago but today with only a 6pc marginal lead it is too close to call and we can only wait for November, 2016 to know the final outcome.
A fact checker though conducted by the Los Angeles Times on the Acceptance speeches made by both Candidates from their Party Conventions favor Hillary over Trump on the truth-o-meter.
So why does it matter anyway? With the Democrats in Office, we as Africans can expect the status quo to remain. On the other hand, with the Republicans in Office we can expect the boat to be rocked. In my view; rocking the boat will always be two-sided. It can awaken the sleeping Giant in Africa or it can break Africa. Uganda and Africa as a whole are raking in a tidy sum of millions of dollars in remittances back home annually from our immigrant brothers and sisters living in the USA. With tighter controls albeit on remittances too, this may be reduced. We will then be forced to seek alternative ways of raising this funding thereby awakening the sleeping giant.
Should Hillary make it at the end of this race, we will see her join Germany, UK and South Korea and possibly become the most powerful woman in the world. A thumbs up for the women’s movement in the USA either way.
The Fireplace Talk 