Republicans glumly gathered in the twin cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota for the GOP convention, even as Hurricane Gustav spelt doom, writes Gamal Nkrumah Presidential hopeful Barack Obama is ahead of the game. And, Providence is by his side, or so it seems. Hurricane Gustav shut off oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico a day before the Republican convention in the twin cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota. The sense of drama heightened. Like some Greek tragedy, the omens bode ill for the Republicans. United States President George W Bush declined to attend the Republican convention and dispatched his wife Laura in his place. Dressed in drab grey, she did her best to uplift the spirits of the Republicans. The first lady delivered a speech that amounted to an appeal to Republicans to donate funds and humanitarian relief to the victims of Hurricane Gustav. The Republican convention was almost ruined. However, Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, attempted in desperation to make as much political capital as possible from the disaster. He tried to distance himself from President Bush. It was, after all, Hurricane Katrina and the disastrously slow response by the Bush administration that followed that was a turning point in the Bush presidency. Bush's popularity sunk to an all- time low since Katrina. McCain described Bush's halfhearted response to Katrina as "a disgrace". The incumbent president has become the embodiment of everything that is wrong with contemporary America. Homeowners have watched in horror and disdain as the value of their property plummeted, consumers cannot contain their ire as the price of food and fuel soar, and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is fast widening. McCain urged his listeners to take off their Republican hats and put on their American hats. His wife Cindy also implored the Republicans assembled in Minneapolis to be generous and support the victims of New Orleans and coastal parts of the Deep South ravaged by Hurricane Gustav. Two million people fled New Orleans and its environs. New Orleans itself became a ghost town. President Bush was supposed to deliver a speech at the Republican convention, but in the end he didn't. He had cold feet. However, whether he did or didn't is immaterial. Bush would go down in history as the heartless president that was not there when his people needed him most. If Katrina was the beginning of the end for Bush, is it the end of the beginning for McCain? It seemed unseemly to celebrate at Minneapolis. In short, the Republican gathering was in limbo. In sharp contrast, the Democratic convention in Denver, Colorado, was such an inspiring and upbeat affair. The dreary Republican assemblage in Minneapolis was a sombre occasion. The anti-globalisation and anti-war campaigners hounded the Republicans. Thousands of anti-war activists converged on Minneapolis to arraign and denounce McCain and his Republicans. "We must win in Iraq," contended McCain. The louder McCain bellowed his war whoops, the more vociferous the anti-war campaigners chanted their peace mantras. Police badgered the anti-war activists on the streets of Minneapolis, even as scandal and confusion dogged the Republicans within the confines of the Republican convention. In the midst of the deliberations, it was disclosed that the lap dog that McCain picked as running mate to soften his image had turned somewhat sullen. She was not quite a liability, but revelations about her private life, or rather that of her teenage daughter, Bristol, reflected badly on Republicans. As it transpired that Bristol is five months pregnant, and intends to marry her 17-year-old beau Levi Johnston, a long shadow of doubt was cast on the self- styled "hockey mom" who true to her faith was a pro-life candidate in 2002. Even so, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska eloped with her high-school paramour Todd Palin in 1988. Their son Track was born eight months after their wedding. Be that as it may, Governor Palin has her charms, she won, after all, Miss Wasilla beauty contest, wrenching the title of Miss Congeniality to boot. The Grand Old Party has no moral right to speak about religion and abortion. The hawkish foreign policy of the GOP is a menace that poses a threat to world peace. As far as domestic issues are concerned, McCain threatens to axe estate tax, thereby profiting the rich -- a tiny elite of privileged families like his own might gain, but the lot of the Americans would be the losers. The gun-totting, church-going mother of five who brought in $10 billion after she was selected as McCain's running mate, is considered a shot in the arm for the GOP. Bush was relegated to a short address delivered by screen from Washington 900 miles away. It was as if the Republicans wanted to forget about his obnoxious governance. It is also ironic that on the day that Palin addressed the convention a mad gunman went on a shooting rampage in Washington state, yet another portentous omen for the GOP. GOP bigwigs paraded at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Republican convention -- Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, and McCain's running mate Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. They might be political heavyweights, but not an impressive lot. Theirs were voices of an America bygone. They were the protectors of the privileged few. They have little, or rather nothing to offer the ordinary American. The clique is an exclusive club of the powers that be, determined to cling tenaciously to their wealth and privileges. The conservatives are under intense pressure because a substantial number of Americans are wearied by eight years of bankrupt Republican rule. The fierce patriotism of the early years of the Bush administration has degenerated into farce, with the American voter seeing it for what it is: a cruel and senseless gimmick designed to strengthen and prop up the military-industrial complex of the US. Jingoism is worse than empty sloganeering. It is utterly ruinous and disquieting as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Obama's memorable speech in Berlin made that abundantly clear. Hooray for America does not wash any longer. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan is perceived as bad for America. What Americans need is radical change in foreign policy. And, that is precisely what Barack Obama is offering. The world needs a break from a superpower that throws its weight about and flexes its muscles at will. The first black nominee for president in the history of the United States is in a position to do so. His parents' interracial marriage would have been deemed illegal in many states in the 1950s. He is of a new post-racial black politician. Born in Hawaii, however, he is by nature a multi- culturalist. Growing up in Chicago re- enforced his African-American identity. But he easily transcended the limitations of that particular agenda. He transcended the politics of race, breaking hitherto unbreakable racial barriers -- no easy feat in a country such as America -- and that was abundantly clear in the forbidding primaries. America is headed left, and Obama will take full advantage of the fact. So what about his running mate Senator Joe Biden? Well, he is another political animal altogether. Dubbed the loquacious senator for Delaware, Biden is widely acknowledged as perfectly complimentary to Obama. Biden exudes a most unwelcome, as far as Arabs and Muslims are concerned, lack of emotional inhibition towards Israel. On other subjects he tends to drift a little.
