Who may be the next US president

The next US presidential elections are still more than eighteen months away, but there is already a long list of candidates from the Republican Party and a few from the Democratic Party entering the race.

Former senator and secretary of state Hillary Clinton took the limelight of the race for the White House when she announced her candidacy on April 12 in a rather unconventional way that took the form of a TV political campaign.

Clinton appears to have already clinched the Democratic Party’s endorsement for the White House; the few other candidates are not expected to pose a real threat to her.

Clinton has many things going her way: She is a woman and Americans could be ready to elect the first woman to the White House, taking the road of other major democracies.

Having elected Barack Obama in 2008 as the first black American president, the US could be ready to go one step further and elect a woman president now.

Clinton is also the wife of the very popular former president Bill Clinton.

On the other side, the Republican Party contenders for the White House are many; a rather long list of candidates was either announced or is about to be announced.

Leading the pack, I believe, is Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida. Candidates include Ted Cruz, senator from Texas, Rand Paul, senator from Kentucky, Marco Rubio, senator from Florida and Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey. They, however, do not seem to enjoy wide support or popularity. 

After eight years in the White House of a Democratic Party president, US voters could be ready to choose a Republican this time.

This rather routine swing by which Democrats and Republicans in the White House has become quite traditional, with few exceptions now and then.

While the odds are in favour of the Republicans this time, chances are also quite high that a women president may be elected.

After the primaries, it is most probable that Clinton will end up facing Bush in the November 2016 election.

Both are at the top of the line for their respective parties.

Normally Clinton would be the favourite, but given the turmoil in the world, the rise of terrorism and radicalism, and the return of the cold war between East and West, Americans might end up electing a hawk like Bush rather than a champion for social justice like Clinton.