Opinion | Two men on the brink of history
Victory will give Obama a chance to achieve the true greatness of those who win a second term; failure will bring only a long period of reflection for the president who dared to offer hope
US President Barack Obama today stands on the edge of history.
Defeat at the hands of Mitt Romney, his Republican rival for the White House, will deny America's first black president the chance not just of redemption after a bruising four years, but a bid for greatness.
History warns that only two-term presidents - Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Lyndon Johnson - have the chance to make that leap. The one-termers - Jimmy Carter, George Bush senior - must face a long retreat before history looks at them afresh.
And Obama - who has never been accused of viewing himself as an ordinary president - has coveted greatness ever since he first eyed a move to Washington as a young politician in the Illinois state senate a decade ago.
No other US politician in modern times has dared risk the rhetorical flourishes and promises of hope and renewed faith in America's highest motives.
Defeat, therefore, promises a sting even more vicious than usual for the 51-year-old and the voters who still cling to the hope he embodied four years ago.