Elections in SA have been pretty boring since 1994 — the ANC wins every time, by a landslide. The US election, on the other hand, offers soaring rhetoric, racial slurs, frenzied campaigning and a hot gun-toting creationist. Exciting stuff.

If a worldwide Reader's Digest poll is anything to go by, South Africans are overwhelmingly behind Barack Obama's bid to become the first black president of the most powerful nation in the world.

Now, this probably has little to do with his policies — the fact that he's up against an old white guy endorsed by Bush gives him a significant advantage — and more to do with the fact that he has a biological link to Africa.

And while 'Bush-bashing' has become something of a national pastime, it is perhaps a little unwarranted. Sure, he's an idiot, but he has also done quite a bit for Africa.

The first US president to visit sub-Saharan Africa twice during his presidency, Bush launched the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), initially worth $48-billion for fighting Aids and malaria in Africa. His regime implemented the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which lowered commercial barriers to the US and allowed sub-Saharan countries to qualify for trade benefits. He also launched the Millennium Challenge Corporation in 2004, which links eligibility to funds to demonstrate commitment to policies that promote political and economic freedom.

So, contrary to popular belief, a Republican president is not automatically a bad thing for Africa.

With that in mind, we look beyond Obama's charming good looks and McCain's tendency to reinvent Beach Boys classics, to ascertain where they actually stand on stuff that matters to SA.

Foreign policy

The fact that Obama's campaign website includes a 'foreign policy' section and McCain's doesn't, suggests that the former may be a little more amenable to interacting with the rest of the world. However, the fact that he doesn't regard foreign policy as an important issue for his constituents (and it probably isn't) doesn't mean that he doesn't have one.

Barack Obama:

• Obama promises to double annual investment in foreign assistance from $25-billion in 2008 to $50-billion by the end of his first term and to make the Millennium Development Goals (halving extreme poverty by 2015) America's goals.
• He plans to establish an Add Value to Agriculture Initiative, creating a fund that will extend seed capital and technical assistance to small and medium enterprises.
• He promises to reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
• Obama will strengthen Agoa to ensure that African producers can access the US market, and he will encourage more American companies to invest on the continent.
• He will spearhead an initiative to eliminate the global education deficit by establishing the Global Education Fund to help finance primary education in Africa.

John McCain:

• McCain will seek to engage on a political, economic and security level with friendly governments across Africa.
• He will set up a League of Democracies to help regions in Africa and elsewhere beset by humanitarian crises.
• He will enhance trade and investment on the continent to help Africans "achieve their potential".
• He will establish the goal of eradicating malaria on the continent.

Better for SA: While both candidates are promising similar things (economic growth, peace and aid), the specific nature of Obama's promises suggest that he has more invested in the continent and is more likely to act on his promises than McCain.

History with SA

Barack Obama:

While in college in the 1980s, Obama became involved in the movement to demand that colleges divest themselves of financial interests that helped support apartheid. When he visited South Africa in 2006 (as part of a four-nation African tour) he spoke about the influence of apartheid on his political career: "If it wasn't for some of the activities that happened here, I might not be involved in politics and might not be doing what I am doing in the United States."

During his visit to South Africa, he toured Soweto and met with black businessmen and Aids victims. In June 2008, he criticised the South African government over their failure as a superpower to pressure Mugabe to hold free and fair elections.

John McCain:

In June 2008, pressing for sanctions against Iran, McCain said: "Years ago, the moral clarity and convictions of civilised nations came together in a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping rid that nation of the evil of apartheid."

Although McCain eventually voted to override president Reagan's veto of a bill imposing economic sanctions against SA in 1986, he also voted against sanctions on six previous occasions.

Better for SA: Tough call... but we're going to have to go with the Democrat again on this one.

HIV/Aids

Barack Obama:

Obama plans to invest at least $150-billion by 2013 in the global fight against HIV/Aids and expand Pepfar by providing an additional one billion dollars a year. Whilst in South Africa, he criticised pharmaceutical companies and the Mbeki regime's disastrous HIV/Aids policies and embraced Aids activist Zackie Achmat. He and his wife Michelle took public HIV tests in Kenya to encourage HIV testing.

John McCain:

McCain has a record of voting against using government money to finance the distribution of condoms and doesn't support the distribution of taxpayer-subsidised condoms in Africa. Instead he, like Bush, advocates a programme of promoting abstinence over contraception for the prevention of HIV transmission. When pushed by a journalist on whether he thinks contraceptives help prevent the spread of HIV, his answer was telling: "You've stumped me."

Better for SA: Anyone notice a trend?

Climate change

Barack Obama:

• Obama plans to invest $150-billion over ten years to encourage private efforts to build a clean energy future.
• He has set targets to ensure that 10 percent of US energy comes from renewable source by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025.
• He will implement a cap-and-trade programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. This policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned and proceeds will go to investments in a clean energy future and habitat protection.
• Obama will launch the Global Energy and Environmental Initiative to ensure that African countries have access to low carbon energy technology and can profitably participate in the new global carbon market, ensuring economic development and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
• He will re-engage with the UN framework Convention on Climate Change and create a Global Energy Forum of the world's largest emitters to focus exclusively on global energy and environmental issues.

John McCain:

• McCain proposes a cap-and-trade system that would set limits on greenhouse gas emissions that would allow trading of the rights to emit.
• His emission targets include a return to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
• McCain promises to engage the international community in a co-ordinated effort by leading UN negotiations and capturing the market on low-carbon energy.

Better for SA: both candidates appear to be serious about climate change and are essentially making similar commitments.

So, Barack is clearly our man — a great smile, rainbow nation pigmentation, and all the right answers on the issues that matter to us. But wait, there's more. Barack Obama stands for something which South Africans can, and should, believe in.

He offers hope, diplomacy and inclusivity, where McCain calls for fear, aggression and exclusivity. He is proof that minority groups can challenge the status quo and, if he wins, there is hope that South Africa too can one day move beyond stagnant race-based politics.

Of course, if he does win, we will be forced to re-evaluate our opinion of a nation that twice endorsed the incumbent's presidency. Can we do it? Yes we can!

If you could choose who gets access to those nuclear codes, who would you pick? Post a comment below...