Hillary or Hussein?

From the time I first heard of her, I’ve been an admirer of Hillary Clinton. My earliest curiosity about her personality stemming from the headlines such as ‘Hillary’s Husband Elected’ ran by the East German news papers when Bill Clinton was elected President for the first time. My admiration grew as I read more about her views on social issues and it peaked after noticing the remarkable dignity with which she handled each crisis in her life brought about by the irresponsible ways of her husband. I often thought of her as the best bet to be America’s first woman President.

But the sudden appearance of a fresh face, that of Senator Barack Hussein Obama from Illinois, on the scene of the Presidential race leaves me a bit confused. Sen. Obama already had to answer questions on his early schooling in some Islamic Madrassa in Indonesia; and he’s on the back foot, pleading for his ‘devout Christian’ status! How annoying is it to see persons of integrity and values forced to fall over backwards and eat their words by the fools and fanatics who control the 'religious under world', once they bid for an elected office.
Whenever the Americans chose to ignore the conservatives, they had brought in a refreshing change on the way their country was governed. They had elected the ‘Compassionate’, the ‘Crippled’ and the ‘Catholic’ in spite of the heavy odds staked against them and history changed course each time. And it's badly in need of another course correction now.

Years ago when a highly decorated general, a hero of the American state, announced his intention to run, the campaign managers of the then President ran a vitriolic attack on him, digging up information on his past. The pro-President news papers derided him as the “son of a common prostitute” and the “paramour husband of a convicted adulteress” and asked the voters whether such a person could be elected as the President of that devoutly Christian land! And when his supporters decided to pay back with the same coin, he had heroically restrained them stating “I never war on the females, it’s only the mean and cowardly that do”. The Americans then responded by electing him for two consecutive terms, perhaps the first orphan to be democratically elected as the President of any nation, and also made sure that those behind the campaign never made it to the White House. Any doubt on why the Americans continue to command respect in spite of their recent record?

Is there a way out of my present dilemma? With all due respect to the hopes & aspirations of the African Americans, I wish Hillary to run for President & Obama for the veep.