WHAT MUST surely have been one of the most exciting national election campaigns in American history ends today. The voting for a new president of the most powerful nation on Earth continues today as, under their system, advance voting has already been taking place across the country.

There is no doubt that the interest and excitement derive from the fact that the Democratic contender, Senator Barack Obama, is relatively young, gifted and black; and he faces an elderly white Republican, Senator John McCain, with a history of wartime courage as a prisoner of war and years of experience in the wiles and practices of political administration in Washington, DC.

Outstripped opponents

The campaign oratory of Obama feeds a charisma that has excited what the pundits say is a new generation of young, biracial supporters drawn to politics as never before. His was a talent that first came to national notice in the Democratic election convention of 2004, and it has flourished on the hustings, fed by the dynamics of media coverage and multimillion-dollar fund-raising and aggressive television advertising, a hallmark of American electioneering. In fund-raising and the psephology of scientific polling, the Democratic candidate is said to have outstripped his opponents.

The Obama celebrity has spread across the world, most notably a tour of Europe which drew thousands to hear him speak, which suggests that any leader of America is still regarded as leader of the free world. That leadership, however, is subject to what Americans decide tomorrow; and the pertinent factors have to do with how the foreign-policy ventures abroad affect national interests, be they in trade and economics or the military excursions that have required intervention in the Middle East and Asia, for example.

The great unknown

Along with the latest developments in the global financial crisis, these matters have been canvassed in the presidential debates involving Obama, McCain and their running mates, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Our own pages have reflected the realpolitik view of elder statesman Edward Seaga, that the outcome of the election is irrelevant to how Jamaica may be treated in foreign policy terms.Even so, the great unknown is how the racial factor could influence the outcome. Some pundits have wondered whether the poll findings truly reflect a fundamental change from the obscenities of racial segregation, the indelible dark past of American history. Even in these early years of the 21st century, it is conceded that many white Americans say that they can never vote for a black man to enter the White House as commander-in-chief of the only superpower on planet Earth.

Tomorrow's election is, therefore, a national referendum on whether a majority of Americans can accept the enlightenment of racial tolerance and truly come of age as leader of the free world.

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