Can British Politics Learn From Obama's Iowa Victory?
Wat Tyler Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 11:02:15 AM GMT 
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Could the race to be the next President of America teach us some valuable lessons about engaging voters?
Barrack Obama has won the Democratic caucus in Iowa forcing former front runner Hillary Clinton into third place and may well win again in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Speaking to his supporters after the result had been announced he said: ‘We are choosing hope over fear, we are choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.’
He is right, after eight years of misrule by the Bush administration a nation often criticised for its innate conservatism is seeking a new and less divisive direction, it might even be taking the first baby steps towards making Martin Luther King’s call for people to be judged by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin a reality.
Viewed from this side of the Atlantic what impresses most about the Iowa caucus is the enthusiasm Americans display for this quirky element of their electoral process, how very different to the air of weary indifference that too often surrounds British politics.
Why should that be? It has, I suspect, quite a lot to do with the fact that voters in Iowa felt they were having a real say in choosing the next leader of their respective party and perhaps the next President.
When did that last happen over here? Not during the process choose Gordon Brown as Labour leader, or to any realistic extent in the leadership races held by any of the other parties for that matter.
The other thing that impresses about the race for the Whitehouse is the extent to which candidates from the same party are actively encouraged to engage in a robust debate over policy. Isn’t that so much more refreshing than hearing identikit candidates spout empty platitudes in the hope of being remembered by the eventual winner when he or she is handing out jobs?
I don’t know if Barrack Obama will make it all the way to the oval office or fall by the wayside as the race goes on, but the idea of giving voters a real say in choosing candidates and allowing debate to flourish rather than stifling it in a wrong headed attempt to preserve party unity might be a good way of bringing our own moribund political system back to life.
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