The strength behind Obama's re-election

Americans rarely fail to give their Presidents a second term. One of those was Jimmy Carter, a decent man who did not understand politics ,but later became a statesman of renown, capably supervising elections in many emerging democracies.

Obama does understand politics, but he is still learning to govern, having painfully discovered that it is easier to promise than it is to deliver. One must hope that he will now use the tough experience of his first term to do immensely better in his second stay at the White House.

Why do I think he will win? More importantly, in what ways will it help the world if he does win?

A good place to start is by studying Obama's opponent, Mitt Romney. He comes over as a show pony with no intellectual or ethical depth, and no strongly held convictions - his agenda constantly changing according to his reading of the polls.

Of particular concern to me is his background. He has led a privileged life as one of the wealthy one per cent, never ever having had to worry about paying the rent on Friday. You really don't have a clue what life is about unless you have struggled with an empty bank account on a regular basis.

Even more crucial is the fact that Romney belongs to an era that is past - pedalling promises to voters that he will take them back to happy old days of endless prosperity - a commitment that he cannot honour.

Unfortunately, Community Capitalism has not been even remotely present on Romney's agenda, and he will resist it if he wins the election. He will want to run the world in exactly the same manner as he operated Bain Capital.

The future of humanity may depend on the Tea Party being mercilessly thrashed at the November 6 polls and sent back to the dark places from whence they came.

Just as bad as the Tea Party, but in a different way, are some of Obama's own team - Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke, as well as some of the other retreads from the Clinton era, must go. They are incompetent and should be replaced by people who understand that small business is the backbone of a free market, and they are not helped by the printing of money.

So, we come to the crunch point. The Republicans should be winning the US election by the length of the straight, but they are a political party that constantly looks backwards, and they have chosen a candidate who is a good project organiser, but will never ever understand that humanity needs hope, not economics that is based on a list of doubtful dreams put forward by Wall Street.

They are a party that has no future, and Tony Abbott should take note of the fact that there is now a desperate need for a revolution in conservative politics worldwide.

I hope that the role of the second Obama government will be to create a marketplace where there are considerable incentives for participants to serve humanity, but provides absolutely no incentives whatsoever for anyone to become wealthy.

Financial independence, combined with an enjoyable lifestyle, should be the accepted norm for a fair society. If Obama genuinely embraces Community Capitalism, he will go down as one of the great Presidents of American history.

It is always wise to learn a few new lessons from Abraham Lincoln, who is acknowledged as the greatest of all American Presidents. He gave freedom to the slaves instead of leading an economy that was based on slavery.