Welcome to the most important American election in living memory. A world election, in which the world has no vote. Four more years of Bush can confirm millions of Muslims in a self-defeating phobia against the west, Europe in hostility to America, and the US on the path to fiscal ruin. Four more years, and the Beijing Olympics will see ascending China dictating its terms to a divided world.
Don't be fooled by those who say that one lot is as bad as the other, or even, like the New Statesman's John Pilger, that Bush's re-election may be the lesser evil, because "supremacy is the essence of Americanism; only the veil changes or slips". Don't be put off by John Kerry's attempts to out-Bush Bush, as he attacks rather than applauds the president for inadvertently admitting that this "war on terror" cannot be "won" in the way that the second world war was won. Beyond the electoral posturing, Kerry knows that is true. As president, he would act accordingly, and the change would make a vast difference to every one of us.
The American election will have far more consequences for Europe than the last European elections. It's probably more important to Britain than the next British election. Yet there seems so little we can do to affect the outcome. We feel like a punter whose life savings have been invested in a bet on a single boxer in a single bout. All we can do is cheer our lungs out from the ringside. Except that if we shout too loudly for Kerry we may actually help the other man - especially if we shout in French.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1295508,00.html