One good thing has already come out of the United States presidential campaign. Australians are starting to realise that maybe America is not so bad after all. Of the two people most likely at this stage to win the White House, one is a woman, and one is black.
Most commentators on the US have been blinded by their contempt, and in some cases their hatred, of George Bush. So far those same commentators haven't acknowledged that the country that gave the world George Bush, might also give it Barack Obama.
The daughter of John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, has waxed lyrical about how Obama "appeals to the hopes of those who can still believe in the American Dream" and how he "can lift our spirits".
Were Obama somehow to become president, we can be guaranteed more paeans of praise. One immediate result of his election in Australia would be that our Australian political parties would be forced to start looking for their own Obama. Charisma would be back in fashion.
If Obama or Hillary Clinton becomes president, America's critics will be forced to think again. The American people won't be able to be written off as an assemblage of religion-obsessed, gun-toting, rednecks. Most likely, America will come to be regarded as the repository of all that is enlightened, liberal, and tolerant.
That perceptions about the US could be susceptible to so dramatic a change reveals that a country can't be judged by its leader. As much as any elected politician would like to be able to speak for "everyone", the reality is that they cannot. In the same way that half the electorate did not vote for John Howard while he was prime minister, about half the electorate didn't vote for Kevin Rudd either.
Australians pride themselves on their egalitarianism, and we've come to think of it as our defining national characteristic. We like to think that egalitarianism and a fair go are reflected in our politics. A person's background, at least intheory, should be no barrier to advancement.
We're staggered by the extent to which money seems to play a part in US elections. With still nine months until polling day, Clinton has already raised more than $US100 million ($A112 million). And she's just one candidate. That figure is twice as much as what was estimated as the combined spending by the Labor and Liberal parties for last year's election.
There's an argument that America's political system and its political parties are more open and more diverse than in Australia.
In the middle of the 19th century a Japanese visitor to the US recorded that "in America a man was judged on ability rather than ancestry". A few years later a foreign diplomat asked after the whereabouts of George Washington's descendants. He was shocked that no one knew. Americans also regard themselves as living in a classless and egalitarian society. Whether that's true or not is hardly the point. What matters is that it is believed to be true.
The fact that the population of the US is 15 times larger than Australia's only partly explains the differences between the countries. In all walks of life, Americans are more likely to embrace competition than are Australians. This trait is obvious in business and it extends to politics. Americans take it for granted that most of their public officials should be elected. In Australia, we're happy to leave the task of appointing our officials to politicians.
It's difficult to imagine any Australian political party allowing anyone who is not a party member to have a say in that party's selection of candidates for office. Yet this is precisely what happens in the US.
In Australia, even the suggestion every party member should be given an equal vote in the preselection process has proved controversial. The idea isn't popular because power would shift away from powerbrokers and to the grassroots membership. Grassroots members are more difficult to control and influence than are a few trusted cadres.
Even more controversial would be to allow party members to vote for the party's leader. This is effectively what happens in the US, and the British Conservative Party now has such a system.
If the strength of a political system can be measured by the diversity of candidates seeking national leadership, there's no comparison between Australia and America. In addition to Obama and Clinton for the Democrats, for the Republicans there is Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon; John McCain, a war hero; Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic of Italian heritage; and Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian.
Australia has had 26 prime ministers. Every one of them has been a male of Anglo-Celtic background.
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