US presidential election

US: The 2008 presidential race has been more about personality than policy, with the two frontrunners, Barack Obama and John McCain, placing their personal biographies at the centre of their campaigns.

On the Democratic side, Obama and Hillary Clinton have almost identical policies on most issues and on climate change, for example, all four remaining viable candidates would take a similar approach.

The sharpest differences between the parties are on the economy, healthcare and foreign policy, with Democrats promising a radical departure from the Bush administration's approach to all three.

Obama and Clinton would reverse tax cuts on the rich, use government funds to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, withdraw from Iraq and engage in direct diplomacy with Iran and Syria.

McCain and Mike Huckabee would keep the tax cuts, use market-based measures to cut healthcare costs and remain in Iraq indefinitely.

Where Obama and Clinton disagree on domestic issues, he is usually more conservative, despite the fact that his supporters are mostly to the left of hers.

Clinton wants to make health insurance mandatory, just like the state pension system, but Obama's system would be voluntary, a philosophical difference that appeals to conservatives.

Obama is also more cautious about government intervention to tackle the mortgage crisis, opposing Clinton's plan to freeze subprime mortgage interest rates for five years.

On foreign policy, Obama would represent the most dramatic departure from the Bush years, offering to meet the leaders of hostile countries without preconditions and pulling all US troops out of Iraq within about 16 months. McCain is the most hawkish, escalating sanctions against Iran and Syria, expanding George Bush's missile defence system, which both Democrats would disband, and keeping US troops in Iraq "for 100 years" if necessary.

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© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times