Guardian

An interesting bit of commentary on presidential politics from a US columnist for the Guardian named Lisa Nuss. At issue is this question: Why all the sudden outpouring of support for the candidacy of a mostly black man when a white woman couldn't even get the time of day a few short years ago. The black man, of course, is Barack Obama. The white woman? None other than our own Very Senior Senator, Elizabeth Dole.

It is a significant and important development that a person who is of mixed race is taken so seriously as a presidential candidate. But Obama talks and acts like a white man from the Ivy League. It is just that cocky confidence - amazing, since there is little experience behind it - that allows well-educated, young men to be seen as "presidential," despite a lack of credentials. We must ask this question - who does he think he is? - because we asked it of an Ivy Leaguer with far greater experience and stature, Elizabeth Dole. Like Obama, Dole graduated from Harvard law school. Her confidence and presidential aspirations in the 2000 campaign were backed by cabinet-level service under two presidents: secretary of labour under President Reagan and secretary of transportation under the first President Bush. Despite her national political leadership and experience as the president of the American Red Cross, where she controlled a budget that rivals most large American corporations, we didn't think she had the stature to be president.