The US election is seen as a battle for America's soul. But history suggests very little changes between US presidents. Foreign policy rarely aligns with campaign promises, and America's positioning on the stage of world affairs has barely shifted despite wildly different leaders in the White House. It's time to recognise power does not reside in the White House, argues Marcus Papadopoulos. 

In 2008, as a writer and reporter at Tribune magazine, I contended that there would be no change whatsoever to American foreign policy in the event of Barack Obama becoming the American president. This was despite Obama’s election pledge to not involve America in the affairs of other countries. I meant that the institutions in Washington would preserve and augment America’s mastery of the international arena by pursuing a doctrine of ‘humanitarian intervention’, a cloak for American expansionism. Obama’s catastrophic interventions in Libya, Syria and Ukraine vindicated my pessimistic prediction.