I wonder what this election would look like if Al Gore had won in 2000. Would the mood be shifting left or right? And in 2004, I was never very excited about a John Kerry presidency except for its single magnificent selling-point of not being a continuation of the Bush administration. But think back to Bill Clinton's reign, back when America was popular(ish), solvent and at peace(ish). The Democrats didn't have the votes they needed in Congress to get a lot of their legislation passed. And then they didn't have the votes to do anything at all for the first four years of this decade. But the shift to the right back then looks to be leading to a landslide to the left in this election.

For the first time in (I'm too lazy to look up the details but let's say) 75 years, the Democrats might have the White House with a liberal president in it, both houses of Congress (possibly with an unbeatable majority in the Senate), and a pretty good selection of governorships and mayorships (? mayoralties?) into the bargain. What they'll do with this is anyone's guess. Corporate sponsorship pays the Republicans to be pro-business and the Democrats to sit on their hands, but if President Obama were minded to sort out his country and restore integrity and principle to his government's policies, it seems like he'll have everything he needs to hand.

(Of course I just can't bring myself to believe the election won't all somehow go wrong at the last moment and we'll have three and a half years of President Sarah Palin pulling randomly on the levers of power.)

And I forgot to add one of the great side-benefits of an Obama win: with the UK leadership sucking up to a Democrat president rather than a neo-con one, the UK will suddenly be a less warlike nation.