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Editorial: Hail to the Chief

Seventh week editorials have in the past been used to advocate a certain Presidential candidate over another. A year ago, this space was used to canvas votes for Dean Robson, who was standing as something of a wild card against Luke Tryl. Acknowledging that the odds were stacked against him, we did at least note that “if it were not for Robson, the Presidential contest might have been, rather embarrassingly, a one horse race.”The intervening year has seen our Union go through strength to strength: from Tryl to tribunal. From attracting a media circus over ‘Holocaust deniers’, to debating the rights to existence of USA and Israel. Calm, measured, mature debates all.On second thoughts, let’s turn to one presidential election that really does matter, and announce that Cherwell is throwing its full weight and prodigious influence behind Barack Obama. Part rock star, part global phenomenon, Obama is a once-in-a-generation politician embodying the spirit of a nation at a key moment of change.The American presidency, as any prelims politics student will tell you, is heavily constrained by the checks, balances and division of powers enshrined by the US Constitution. Academic analysis of a president’s record invariably brands a presidency as failing to meet its expectations and promise. Perhaps this makes it all the more dangerous to vote for a man who has cultivated a messianic following over the last few months.Yet this is precisely why America should put its trust in Obama’s eloquent call for change, even if it risks being empty. Because it is those who can use the soft power of the presidency, the ability to make grand speeches that inspire people to come together, who will actually be able to pass legislation and engender change when in power.The Economist recently described the best presidents as “like magnets below a piece of paper, invisibly aligning iron filings into a new pattern of their making.” All Presidents surround themselves with a crack team of first-rate minds but only the best can take this ideas and run with them. Only the best can build a consensus and rise above faction to achieve success.Maybe there is some advice in there for Josh Roche?

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