US Presidential Election: Choice or Echo?

With the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination finally settled, attention has turned to the unfolding contest between two candidates representing, as The Economist put it, ‘America at its best’. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain are conventionally regarded as presenting an impressive choice and a genuine contrast for the next president: youth versus seniority, hope versus experience, a thoughtful progressive versus an independent conservative. But much of this contrast is focused on character and personality traits, not policy. Is foreign policy likely to figure prominently in the general election? And are the candidates offering a marked contrast in policy prescriptions or merely differences at the margins?