Obama? McCain? It doesn't really matter to us

At long last it is under way and, soon, we'll know who will be the next President of the USA.

Despite what most political commentators and "experts" would have you believe, I don't really think it makes much difference to us in the UK who is President. Certainly not as much as, say, who is President of France or Germany - or the EU.

Typically the USA is described as "leader of the free world" which I've always felt was inaccurate. The USA has never really been the leader of the free world - more the defender of it if anything. The USA rarely takes the lead in anything unless it is in its own interests to do so - and I personally applaud them for that.

I expect a lot of people believe that whoever wins is important for us because of what Obama or McCain may or may not do with respect to Afghanistan and Iraq but won't really matter a great deal to the vast majority of us.

All I'm really saying is don't believe the hype. The USA isn't as big an influence on either the world or us in particular as many would like to suggest. They are, of course, the major economic and military nation in the world - still - and it is obviously beneficial for us if they remain so, but whether it is McCain or Obama who is President really doesn't make much difference to us.