So thinking about the American election. The standard line from us on the "left" is that whoever is lected, they are merely the puppet of the corporate capitalists. And that's pretty much true. And I don't expect Obama to go too far from that model.
Except...
The American constitution basically posits the President as a monarch. The system of government was defined in terms of its opposition to a monarchy, and a particularly discredited one at that. So although there are separations of powers, those powers are still defined in terms of their relative power to the Presidency - that is, to a monarchy. This is an attempt to create a constitutional monarchy as opposed to the absolutism of a Bourbon-style monarchy, or the corruption of the court of George III.
The upshot being, that there is still a monarchistic, absolutist potential in the role of the presidency. This is usually tempered by the fact that those standing as president are generally corrupted by decades of political life (Bush, Snr, Cheney or Nixon) or are corrupted by personal trauma and compromise (Clinton, Reagan or Kennedy).
That Obama is being widely compared to FDR is not merely that this is a Democrat going into power in the midst of a huge financial crisis. It's also that FDR was a hugely intelligent and determined person. But mostly, I think, he was the last president who had the capacity to act as a monarch. Which he did.
Roosevelt's acceptance of the nomination said:
"Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth…"
Which is almost identical to the message of 'Change' and the "redistribution of wealth" which Obama is proposing.
These twin themes tie to something in American culture which is deeper and more profound than the knee-jerk rightist nonsense of the last 40 years. On one side, it's that sense of a nation of outsiders, pioneers, looking for an honest buck for an honest day's work and perhaps a bit of sidelining outlaw life. On the other hand, it's also a deferential search for an authority, with a definite moralistic bent no matter how secular they may be, to replace the monarch and lead them by the hand into the land of milk, honey and forgiveness.
If Malcolm was their own Black, shining Prince; perhaps Barack Obama is about to be their orator-King, a Plebeian Tribune become Caesar, but with the wit of an Augustus, rather than the half-assed Nero we've had for the last 8 years.
