The Value Democracy As Practiced In the USA

TW: In addition to overstating turnout another favorite election day meme is how wonderful American democracy is. These odes can be become cloying as exemplified by a person like Chris Matthews who I assure you will riff at some point tonight into a spiel about the wonders of democracy in particular as practiced by his Irish pol brethren. But this piece from the Economist provides a more sophisticated view, inherently more distant but ultimately more powerful view given their British perspective. Our system is flawed but at the end perhaps the best there is.

From the Economist:
"THERE is nothing else like it on earth. No other country obliges its future leaders to spend two years on the campaign trail. No other country forces them to conjure hundreds of millions of dollars out of thin air. And no other country gives make-or-break power to people in plaid shirts in out-of-the-way places...America’s bizarre process for electing its president inevitably raises questions...

There is even something to be said for the length of the campaign. Two years of campaigning allows the candidates to get to know a sprawling country of 300m people...The complicated obstacle course is about as good a test of a potential president’s character as you can devise. It tests a wide range of qualities—from debating on television to pressing the flesh in Iowa to giving big speeches. It measures your ability to deal with the unexpected as well as your ability to stay on message. The race is a test of will and endurance that quickly weeds out the weak. It also demands that the winner create and run a nationwide organisation...

Mr Obama’s critics argued that he was only good at giving “pretty speeches”. But the reason that he is the clear favourite is that he has such a wide range of strengths. He has created the most innovative machine in recent political history. He has produced detailed policy proposals on everything from health insurance to Russia (he has a brain-bank of 200 foreign-policy experts). He has displayed grace under pressure when confronted with everything from Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American rants to the Wall Street meltdown. Mr Obama is a decathlete not a one-trick pony...

But the best thing that can be said for the system is that it is so democratic. In most countries party leaders are chosen by political insiders. In America rank-and-file party members (and some independents) get to choose—and this year they upset all political calculations by rejecting the inevitable Mrs Clinton on the left and choosing the maverick Mr McCain on the right...

But for all that Americans can at least take some comfort, during these glum times, over the state of their democracy, at least on the presidential level. The system may be time-consuming and money-grubbing. But it has allowed the son of a couple of nobodies, who was denied a floor pass to the Democratic Convention eight years ago, to become, by dint of sheer charisma and organisational skill, the probable president of the country."
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12511205