This November, the Americans have a choice to make – to choose a man who they think deserve the title of "President of the United States". Will it be Barack Obama, the first black presidential nominee in American history with a last name rhymes with the biggest terrorist in the world, or John McCain, an old and loyal Republican who claims to have devoted himself for the country not only in the Vietman War, but also in most of his life?

The Americans are keeping their figures crossed, praying that the next president could guide them out of the darkness. But in my opinion, whoever they choose, he is going to fail them.

In 2000, the Republican and the Democrats fought a long and hard battle only to let a big disaster hold power. In the 2008 election, however, the two contestants within the democratic party already put up an ulgy fight and wasted a big fortune. Who knows what will happen when the real game begins.

This election system is more likely to nurture politicians(政客) than statesmen/women(政治家), particularly in recent eletions. Politicians set his or her sight at the elections, trying every means to win the votes. They make empty promises that please the voters but care less about whether they can achieve them in the future. A true stateman should have broad and far vision that can see the big picture of the present world and US's status in it.

For instance, in the end of 1920s and the turn of 1930s, a big reccession hit America pretty bad. Franklin Roosevelt, who is well-known for his "New Deal", took a drastic move soon after he came into office and led America out of the slump. Looking at the present economic slowdown (more and more are calling it a reccession), Bush administrastion's actions to save the market was "too little too late". If it had realized the potential damage that the sub-mortage crisis may do to the country as early as last July, did something more than lowering interests rates and injecting tax payers' money to the about-to-bankrupt banks, this crisis may not have spreaded like a contagious disease to almost every field of America or even the world.

But this economic crisis is deep-rooted. In the Reagen and Bush sr. periods, when economy boomed and fortune accumulated, the gap between the rich and the poor has increasingly widened. Aggravated in the Clinton period, the conflicts began to surface at the last one or two years of the 20th century. But Bush jr. is no smarter. He lay his hands everywhere and spent such a large amount of the country's wealth on military, leaving this mass to the successor. For a quarter of a century, these presidents borne by the "Two-party" system have failed to meet their promises to develop a healthy economy, which led to the present crisis.

Whoever will be elected as preident in November, he has a cliff before him and a devil behind. While bearing so much expectations from the voters, he has to clean up the mass left by Bush Administration, or to say it fairer, by the fault of the American political system.

Written with information from Guangzhou Daily, July 27, 2008 A7.