Monday, June 9, 2008

Who is better for Singapore?

Months after her candidacy was effectively over, Hillary Clinton finally bowed out of the Presidential race and now there is only 2 serious contender left in the U.S Presidential Election.

Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain, who will be better for Singapore? One thing I will say for sure; this will be a strange race. Not only because Obama is black, but also because of John McCain. Historically, Asia prefer the Republican candidates because they are believers in free-trade and better on security. Strangely, this might not be the case this time.

Not only is McCain weak on trade (because he knows so little about it), he also want America to be in Iraq till the 'job is done'; no matter how long it'll take. Considering how much the Iraq mess has cost America, it might not be the best case for America. McCain is also more gung-ho than Obama on Iran and Afghanistan, so much so that Obama had to raise his language to match McCain. So is McCain better in security? He might be stronger, but that might not necessary be better.

Obama also has faults. Although he had lived in Indonesia when he was younger, he is also an unknown. He is very inexperience. People in America says that he is a good speaker but has no track record for them to follow. They have a point. The fact that he is black will also play a part. The blacks in America will support him, however a good section of whites will not. That is a problem because a united America is better than a diveded America, and Obama might not be the man for that job. And Singapore would want a strong America.

So who is better for Singapore? Your guess is as good as mine.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems like Lee Kwan Yew supports McCain. Therefore, I support Obama.

Anonymous said...

No thanks to 8 years of that genius GW Bush Jr, America today is more divided than it ever has been. And not just divided, but also extremely polarized.

The same genius has done the same for the world since 2001. I shudder at the thought of (at least) 4 years of McCain.

Ghost said...

Lee Kwan Yew supports McCain because Asian leaders generally prefer the Republican candidates. He want America to stay in Iraq and not lose the war. I'm not too sure about McCain though; he seems to be total idiot in trade and the econmony. To me, I think the world stock markets is more important to Singapore than what happen in Iraq