Divide and Conquer?

Collin Powell’s endorsement of Senator Barack Obama on October 19th was not as much a surprise as it was a wake up call to the candidates and the voters. Powell’s words are a reminder that the campaign is a mean to an end (the end being governance). While ‘divide and conquer’ might be a great strategy to win elections it is not a great way to govern a country.

We are less than two weeks away from Election Day and the Republicans have been making sure to do everything they can to win. But as Powell suggested, the Republican attacks have not just been aimed at the opponent but also at the different sectors of America he represents.

Sarah Palin has been without a doubt the most polarizing figure in the past months. She has identified herself as the voice of the American people. But by people she does not mean all people. From arguing that small town America is (or suggesting it should be) the real America in a rally in North Carolina, to her emphasis on Hussein, the middle name of Obama and his ties with terrorists, Sarah Palin has alienated many Americans who do not fit in her stereotypical boxes. McCain in the meantime has done little to stop her. As George Packer argues in an article for the New Yorker, the Republican candidates are “Playing with Fire”.

Today many Americans are not only voting for a candidate or for a party, they are voting against the opponent of their candidate. While some are buying bullet-prove jackets and building bomb shelters in case Barack Obama and Joe Biden win, others are booking their tickets to Canada or Mexico in case John McCain and Sarah Palin do. The problem with this, is not only that Mexico or Canada are not exactly liberal havens at the moment, but the fact that Americans are afraid of the prospect of fundamental changes in this country. I am not talking about issues like health care or the fate of the troops in Iraq, I am talking about something deeper.

Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba once argued in their essay "The Civic Culture" that while the existence of partisan feeling is acceptable in a healthy democracy, a too hostile partisanship might jeopardize the willingness to accept opposition. The election on November 4th will be tight. The upcoming president will have to make the effort to represent all the different ‘Americas’ (Wall Street, main street, small town, city…). At the same time the losing party will have to make sure they are putting America (all of it) and democracy first and leave the divisions behind. However, this will not be easy if the dividing lines between America keep being carved deeper and deeper.