There is enormous interest around the world inthis year's U.S. presidential campaign, particularly the just concludedDemocratic Party convention and now the Republican Party convention which getsunderway today in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Shieila Meintjes isprofessor of political science at the University of the Witwatersrand inJohannesburg, South Africa. She told most SouthAfricans know the differences between the two major U.S. political parties andtheir policies when it comes to Africa.
"There's a great deal of interest in South Africain what's happening in the United States. It's been front-page news for thelast few weeks. The Obama-Clinton power struggle was front-page news here formonths and months. So in South Africa there has been enormous interest in whatis happening, and I think great excitement that Barack Obama has come out asthe accepted Democratic candidate," she said.
Meintjessaid most South Africans know the differences between the two major U.S.political parties and their policies.
"There'sa very, very clear recognition that the Republican Party is the party that isleading the United States at the moment and that the incumbent president who isnot very popular at the moment I might add might as well be followed by anequally conservative and rather elderly statesman in McCain who once asoldier," Meintjes said.
Inreference to Senator John McCain's role as a former soldier, Meintjes saidalthough South Africans revere their soldiers, there is a much strongersocial-democratic leadership in South Africa than it is in the United States.
"Althoughsoldiers are venerated in our country, our country was liberated by a civil warin which we had military leaders on both sides, there is a much strongersocial-democratic leadership in South Africa than it is in the United States,and they recognize that the Democratic Party is quite different and moreenlightened than the Republican Party," she said.
Meintjessaid even though most South Africans are still digesting the announcement ofAlaska Governor Sarah Palin as Senator John McCain's vice presidential runningmate, she sees it as an attempt by Senator McCain to win over Hilary Clintonsupporters.
ButMeintjes said she doesn't believe Hilary Clinton supporters would flock to theMcCain-Palin ticket because, according to her, there is a world of policydifferences between the Democratic and Republican Parties.
"Thefact that a woman is going to be his running mate is one issue, but she seemsto be relatively conservative, she's pro-gun, she's anti-abortion. And as weunderstand it here, most of Hilary Clinton supporters are in favor of guncontrol and pro-choice. Those are very different ways of understanding theworld. So it seems to me that the fact she is a woman is going to be trumped bythe kinds of policies that Obama and the Democratic Party follow. I'm not sosure that there is a simple equation between support for women by women, andindeed in most countries in the world, women don't just vote for women. Theyalso vote for men, and they do so on the basis of ideology," Meintjes said.