Oh, despite Ivanova being Russian (and mentioning it as often as Chekov used to), it did come across as Earth = America most of the time, since Star Trek was my primary tv sci fi experience up to that point, I was used to it.

Of course, Sheridan becoming President Of All as a narrative reward is a mixture of the Tolkien influence (Aragorn can't not become King of Gondor) and a very American type of success story that unfortunately unites with a common genre difficulty - tell a story of a democratic system successfully reestablishing itself. Democracy becoming a dictatorship stories followed by rebellion against said dictatorship stories are simply easier, you have clearly set goals and enemies, and everyone loves an underdog. But you just can't be the underdog if you are a part of, or the head of government, and just declaring someone is a good King President while not showing this in action doesn't help. It's another thing which I wonder whether JMS will avoid in a reboot by simply not making Sheridan President of anything. There's no narrative reason why he should need to be. (Other than the need to get out of a trial on Earth.)

Sidenote: I think the only two shows I've seen who show a functioning democracy and focus specifically on the political manoeuvrings and manage to make good drama out of it are The West Wing and Borgen. I'm not saying either is hardcore political realism. Just that they take place in democracies, they don't describe a fight against fascism or a rebellion or anything like that, and the majority of characters are working in politics, and yet the fictional suspense is enough. Now I'm watching The Expanse and one intriguing aspect is that so far, the dictatorship card hasn't been played, either. There are obvious injustices within the political system(s), but for example the colonialism practiced isn't one based on dictatorship. I don't know whether that will change in the later seasons, obviously, but if it doesn't, this will be a sci fi show which does manage to portray politics based on elections.