The 2008 Election: The Critical Issue

The most important personal characteristic the next president will bring to the office is the ability to restore the prestige and respect for America overseas. Surprisingly, however, the majority of Americans don't seem to see it that way. To most, at least at this point in the campaign, this election will turn on four major issues; The war in Iraq, illegal immigration, health care and abortion. These four dwarf the others that are mentioned , from time to time, in the media, - the cost of gasoline, global warming, juvenile gangs, etc. Interestingly, two of the four issues deemed to be so important are only peripheral to presidential politics, and there already is a solution for a third, illegal immigration, that most Americans agree with, even if the politicians have yet to accept it.

The War on Terror, whether in Iraq or elsewhere, for example, will be continued by whomever is elected president, that's a given. The war may not be fought exactly the way the new president intended it to be, but it will be fought. How it is fought, like all wars, depends largely on how the enemy fights it. We react to them and then they react to us, and so it goes. No president of the United States wants history to record that it was during his or her administration that the homeland was attacked - again.

The abortion issue is significant to the presidential campaign to the extent that the new president will surely have the opportunity to nominate at least two Justices of the Supreme Court. But keep in mind that who sits on the court is not up to the president alone. The nominees must still be confirmed by the senate. Furthermore, all the talk by candidates from both parties that they would or would not overturn Roe vs. Wade, or whether they favor a pro-life amendment to the U. S. Constitution is only that - talk. Overturning Roe is for the courts to decide, not the president. As far as amending the Constitution is concerned, under the amendment process that is spelled out in the Constitution itself, the president has no role at all. It is completely in the hands of the U. S. Congress and the legislators of the several states.

Regarding illegal immigration, the country has made it abundantly clear to members of both houses of Congress and the president that immigrants are welcome here, as they always have been, as long as they get here legally. Illegal immigrants are not welcome.

The national debate about health care is still going on. No national consensus has been reached, but the proposal euphemistically referred to as "Hillary Care' during the Clinton administration has been rejected. At some point, like all major issues in America, an agreement will be reached and the problem will be solved. But until then we should remember the words of Winston Churchill, "America will always do the right thing, after she has tried everything else."

Americans have often been called naive, unsophisticated, insular and provincial when it comes to dealing with the outside world. That may be true, typically Americans are not well aware of events and issues beyond our own borders. Nor do we seem to care all that much. Two oceans may have something to do with it, but it is also part of our nature to stay out of the other person's business. It is at the root of the almost complete absence of any discussion of how the world views us. Surely, it is hard to deny that the world view of America has been damaged during the Bush administration, but it is part of the price we pay for not being attacked again. President Bush has taken a tough, albeit unpopular, posture when it comes to terrorists. The terrorists don't like it of course, but then neither do our friends, or those who like to say they are friends of the United States. As a consequence the next president will have some work to do repairing the damage.

Of the eight candidates from both parties who have a real chance, slim perhaps, of being nominated and then elected, very few, sad to say, have the stature, charisma, and temperament it will take to be successful in that regard. Let's look at Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Giuliani, McCain, Romney, Huckabee and Thompson.

The three Democrats, to start with, don't even move the needle on the proverbial applause meter. When it comes to foreign policy their main, and apparently only goal is to declare Iraq a defeat for America and come home. With one of them as president I wonder if our troops will leave Iraq under an American flag, or a white one. While Obama and Edwards would be played for the buffoons they are by foreign leaders, (try to imagine either of them going into a negotiation with Vladimir Putin for example) Clinton might get away with it for a time because of the affection foreigners have for her husband, Bill. When that wears thin they will chew her to pieces.

On the Republican side Giuliani will be viewed by other world leaders for what he is, a Brooklyn tough guy. Huckabee will quickly be taught that a bright eyed smile won't, by itself, do it, as likable as he might be.

McCain, Thompson and Romney, on the other hand, do seem to have what it takes. All three are smart, respected, dignified and they have a realistic view of world events and the stature to lead, even in the new reality that there are other emerging centers of influence in the world, if not superpowers - China, Russia and the European Union, to name three. It is easier to see any of them moving in those circles than it is to see any of the other candidates doing so, Republican or Democrat.

So, if restoring America to its former position of respect and influence in the world is important, the right choice would seem to be Romney, McCain or Thompson.