As spring slowly blossoms this year, another change is gingerly moving across the United States.

Growing up, every child is taught that everyone is treated equally and if you want, you could be become president of the United States. This year, that theory will be tested like never before. I have always said that someday I believe a woman and an African-American would be elected president in the States. But this year, America has a choice that will force a change.

This election brings to the forefront everything that the foundation of the United States is built upon, yet will America fall back on tradition?

If Arizona Senator John McCain is elected president, by the time he is inaugurated in January, he will be the oldest elected president in history. I don’t have a problem with that considering medical technology has advanced since Ronald Reagan was president. And who his vice presidential candidate is may have an affect on his elect ability as well.

As it stands in April, a vote for Sen. McCain appears to represent the status quo for the country. Continue on with the war in Iraq and more of the policies of the Republican Party.

The two years prior leading up to the presidential bid of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the American polls seemed to favor her as a presidential candidate. In spite of the numerous scandals that surrounded her husband’s presidency – Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, etc., the country appeared to have better economic times. But now, Clinton’s campaign seems too plagued by problems from the past or statements being misconstrued on the campaign trail. Could this be signaling future trouble? As her campaign moves forward and she wins key battle ground states, people seem to be asking her to step aside. As the conceptual idea moves closer to reality, is America now retreating to a notion of a lady running the White House?

Finally, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is bringing other issues to the forefront. Are American voters ready to set aside preconceived prejudice statements that have  come from his own white grandmother - about being afraid of African-American men in an alley? Will Americans elect Obama to the White House? On the surface, I think he reminds many people of The Kennedy’s of 1960s or The Clinton’s in the early 1990s in the respect– a youthful man, with a young family and a promise of hope for a better future in America. Obama’s record in his home state of Illinois was impressive, but can it work on a national and international playing field? Does he have the experience – only one (or is it two) year in the U.S. Senate, which has been spent mostly on the campaign trial- to work with both sides of the aisle to accomplish his goals?
This November, America will vote for a change- the oldest elected president, a woman or an African-America. But the question remains, will it be the change America so desperately seeks and may want or will it be just the same old Washington rhetoric that leads us to the safe Caucasian president we are accustomed to viewing since our 200-year plus existence?

Contact Dan Mucci at dan.mucci@cantonrep.cpm