Advocates of Republican nominee Mitt Romney and President Obama
show their colors at the end of a tough campaign. As sick of it as most
people
in America are, many around the world look on in wonder at how
Americans choose their presidents - without military coups or
violence.
The U.S.
Presidential Debates and the Glory of American Democracy (Al Sabaah, Iraq)
"At the end
of each U.S. presidential term, we watch with amazement - we being the millions
of Arabs and Asians deprived of any form of democracy, even the fictional kind.
We watch the competition between the outgoing president (Obama now) and his opponent
(now Mitt Romney) through glamorous and well-produced video clips. ... The final
stage of the U.S. presidential competition consists of televised debates with
live audiences, in which the two candidates sit facing one another on an open
platform, i.e.: it can be watched by Americans, Chinese, Indians and even Saudis
in the Arabian Peninsula, assuming they aren't too busy camel racing!"
Supporters of Tunisia's ruling party celebrate the one year anniversary of the country's first free elections, October 23. In all the countries of the Arab Spring - and Iraq, people are finding their way through the maze that is democracy.
Western presidential elections, and in particular, those in
the United States, which are generally held every four years, represent the democratic
summit of modern civilization. In providing for a pre-determined presidential
term of four years for the performance of the duties assigned to him, they
represent the pinnacle of sophistication and constructive dialogue between
ruler and ruled, and between opposing parties involved in an honest and healthy
battle for power. Regardless of whether his previous occupation was as a
doctor, manual laborer or businessman, the same rules apply to vote or be eligible
for the presidency. The office cannot be obtained via military coups like those
that regularly occur in African countries, or through assassination, as often
occurs in Latin America, or through vote rigging, as is so common to the Arab
region, or through elections that were held as a form of entertainment by
Iraq's Saddamists before the political change!
At the end of each presidential term, we watch with
amazement - we being the millions of Arabs and Asians deprived of any form of
democracy, even the fictional kind. We watch the competition between the
outgoing president (Obama now) and his leading opponent (now Mitt Romney)
through glamorous and well-produced video clips. The competition begins with campaign
advertisements funded by individuals and firms that support the parties. The
ads are public and can be viewed any time, and are funded without government
resources.
Then begins a highly organized campaign, during which the
candidates visit cities across the country, where they present, in person,
their program for the government, their priorities and their political,
security, economic and educational plans, in an effort to win the support of citizens.
The final stage of the presidential competition consists of televised debates with
live audiences, in which the two candidates sit facing one another on an open
platform, i.e.: it can be watched by Americans, Chinese, Indians and even Saudis
in the Arabian Peninsula, assuming they aren't too busy camel racing!
The democratic systems we have in the Arab
world - if we have them at all - are still frail or newly-formed. And even in the
Arab Spring countries, including in Iraq, which had a nine-year lead on these previously-mentioned
countries, not enough time and attention has been spent on building a new state
and democratic institutions. That is because we have never seen professional
political competitions that weren't entirely comprised of political accusation,
the discrediting of political opponents, and the rejection of the views of
others.
In the newly-transformed Arab countries, even media headlines
about cooperation and strengthening ties and dialogue have been lost among
competing priorities of some political parties, which call for sectarianism,
regionalism and factionalism, even outright antagonism and boycott. What a
contrast to our example here - Obama and Romney. Iraqi political parties meet
almost every day in and out of the National Assembly, in bilateral and
trilateral meetings, and have yet to reach the point of holding open dialogue
and fostering honest competition. Rather, they have yet to stray far from
slandering and condemning those they disagree with, discrediting them
politically and in the media, and filling TV screens with baseless accusations which
lead only to chaos.
It has even gotten to the point that TV hosts in the pay of
one political bloc or another, manipulate their politician-guests, and steer
them toward whatever bloc or person the host wishes, in order to trigger a heated
exchange or reveal a scandal or a shortcoming on the part of the guest, as if the
program were “catfight” rather than a political debate. We have never heard of any
Western candidate swearing at or verbally abusing their opponent, or revealing
a scandal theft by the candidate of the Democratic or Republican Party, perhaps
because they have never occurred, or because they know that hundreds of millions
of people around the world are watching the democratic debates in the planet's
leading democratic country!
