By Stephen Blease

Last updated 13:34, Monday, 08 September 2008

Exactly 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King made his “I have a dream” speech, another prominent African-American, Barack Obama, was formally named as Democrat candidate for US president.

Then last week Republican candidate John McCain chose as his running mate Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.

So whatever the outcome of the American election on November 4, there will be a first in the White House: either the first black president or the first woman vice-president.

Either outcome has to be a good thing. If any country should demonstrate equal opportunities, it is the Land of Opportunity. But it seems the Rev. King’s dream about people being “judged by the content of their character” has yet to come true. Most commentators seem preoccupied by the fact that Mr Obama is black and Mrs Palin is female, rather than how good at the job either would be.

I’ve only met a handful of Americans , so I’m no expert, but none I came across would reject a leader because of their skin colour or gender.

Yet whoever the new president and vice-president are, they will have their work cut out for them. If we think Britain has problems we need only look across the Atlantic.

The USA has very high rates of illiteracy, and our childhood obesity problems are nowhere near theirs. It is the only western industrialised nation which doesn’t offer free health care to all its citizens. Its crazy gun laws mean the inner cities are awash with weapons. There is terrible poverty alongside huge wealth.

Nor do we have well-funded pressure groups in this country demanding schools reject evolution and instead promote “creation science”.

There is a lot to admire about the USA – and a lot to deplore about it as well.

Whether Obama and Biden or McCain and Palin win this autumn, let’s hope they can tackle the many problems in the country they call the greatest nation on earth.