The Coming Election
With the election for the next president, 435 members of the House of Representatives, and about a third of the Senate about one year away, what should we expect? Ah, do you think maybe some ideas?
In 2004, in my opinion, John Kerry essentially said, "Vote for me, I'm not Bush!" In the end, obviously it didn't work. I said, "in my opinion," but actually even some of Kerry's campaign operatives admitted that this was their basic strategy, as Bush was unpopular, and Kerry had a lead in the polls for quite some time; so they figured they would sit on "a lead." While this isn't always true, Americans usually like to hear some ideas from their potential presidents. In 2006, Democrats won a substantial victory in the mid-term elections, capturing both houses of Congress. There was no question that the situation in Iraq played a big role in that election, and some people say that Democrats promised to end the war, and now that they have not done so, their poll numbers make George Bush look like he's popular; I believe I saw a recent poll showing an approval rate for Congress at just an astounding 11%.
I'm not so sure that Democrats, in the collective sense, promised to end the war. Certainly SOME Democrats promised to support a prompt withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, but as I remember the campaign of a year ago, most Democratic candidates "fudged" the issue, saying things like, "A change in strategy in Iraq is needed, " or lending support to some vague "strategic withdrawal," or "redeployment." I didn't hear many Dems saying outright that they would "end the war," although they seemed to imply such, or maybe some people hear things the way they want to hear them? The point is, in that election, Democrats got away with not giving many specifics to voters, because the public was just fed up with the Republicans in Congress, not just about the war, but many things, including the increasing number of scandals. Further, on Iraq, many in the overall public have had something of a duel personality on this issue, too; wanting some sort of withdrawal, but not really totally ending the American presence in Iraq.
This current campaign is like reading "War & Peace," it just goes on and on. In case you haven't read "War & Peace," (has anybody really read it, completely?) it is so thick, to take it from place to place, you pretty much need one of those little carts people use to tote around luggage. I'm not quite sure if these campaigns that start so early really serve any purpose. The general public doesn't seem to pay much mind to the candidates, and in fact, we can't be expected to pay attention over such a long period of time. I'm afraid that we'll be "tired" of the next president before they are even elected. Anyway, I hope we're going to hear real ideas, as specific as possible, about what the major candidates want to do, and where they want to take the country. Most, but not all, of the Democratic candidates now seem to have backed away from talk about withdrawing all forces from Iraq. To me, that's prudent. Don't paint yourself into a corner over a highly complex issue. Further, what will the candidates of both parties say about Iran? About the economy? About income disparity? About oil and gas prices? (Are we going to continue this insane system of allowing the wealthy, through various agents, to bid up prices on such an important commodity? One that affects the very fiber of economic life in this country and the world.) What about health care? What about education? What about retraining of workers for the current economy? What about trade policies toward the rest of the world? How will the candidates propose that Americans deal with the loss of manufacturing jobs and industries to overseas countries? Do they see this as a threat to our national security? (We're already being held hostage over oil. What will happen to us if we dismantle most of our industrial complex to overseas interests, and some nation gets mad at us and decides to hold us hostage about some product that we really need?) What about the environment and global warming? (It now seems that many people in both parties feel that global warming is real, but the debate has shifted as to how much "mankind" has contributed to it, or even caused it, and what, if anything mankind can do to reduce the affects of the problem.) Naturally, there are many, many more issues for the next administration and Congress to deal with. And we in the public will need to be thinking about these issues, too.
In 2004, in my opinion, John Kerry essentially said, "Vote for me, I'm not Bush!" In the end, obviously it didn't work. I said, "in my opinion," but actually even some of Kerry's campaign operatives admitted that this was their basic strategy, as Bush was unpopular, and Kerry had a lead in the polls for quite some time; so they figured they would sit on "a lead." While this isn't always true, Americans usually like to hear some ideas from their potential presidents. In 2006, Democrats won a substantial victory in the mid-term elections, capturing both houses of Congress. There was no question that the situation in Iraq played a big role in that election, and some people say that Democrats promised to end the war, and now that they have not done so, their poll numbers make George Bush look like he's popular; I believe I saw a recent poll showing an approval rate for Congress at just an astounding 11%.
I'm not so sure that Democrats, in the collective sense, promised to end the war. Certainly SOME Democrats promised to support a prompt withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, but as I remember the campaign of a year ago, most Democratic candidates "fudged" the issue, saying things like, "A change in strategy in Iraq is needed, " or lending support to some vague "strategic withdrawal," or "redeployment." I didn't hear many Dems saying outright that they would "end the war," although they seemed to imply such, or maybe some people hear things the way they want to hear them? The point is, in that election, Democrats got away with not giving many specifics to voters, because the public was just fed up with the Republicans in Congress, not just about the war, but many things, including the increasing number of scandals. Further, on Iraq, many in the overall public have had something of a duel personality on this issue, too; wanting some sort of withdrawal, but not really totally ending the American presence in Iraq.
This current campaign is like reading "War & Peace," it just goes on and on. In case you haven't read "War & Peace," (has anybody really read it, completely?) it is so thick, to take it from place to place, you pretty much need one of those little carts people use to tote around luggage. I'm not quite sure if these campaigns that start so early really serve any purpose. The general public doesn't seem to pay much mind to the candidates, and in fact, we can't be expected to pay attention over such a long period of time. I'm afraid that we'll be "tired" of the next president before they are even elected. Anyway, I hope we're going to hear real ideas, as specific as possible, about what the major candidates want to do, and where they want to take the country. Most, but not all, of the Democratic candidates now seem to have backed away from talk about withdrawing all forces from Iraq. To me, that's prudent. Don't paint yourself into a corner over a highly complex issue. Further, what will the candidates of both parties say about Iran? About the economy? About income disparity? About oil and gas prices? (Are we going to continue this insane system of allowing the wealthy, through various agents, to bid up prices on such an important commodity? One that affects the very fiber of economic life in this country and the world.) What about health care? What about education? What about retraining of workers for the current economy? What about trade policies toward the rest of the world? How will the candidates propose that Americans deal with the loss of manufacturing jobs and industries to overseas countries? Do they see this as a threat to our national security? (We're already being held hostage over oil. What will happen to us if we dismantle most of our industrial complex to overseas interests, and some nation gets mad at us and decides to hold us hostage about some product that we really need?) What about the environment and global warming? (It now seems that many people in both parties feel that global warming is real, but the debate has shifted as to how much "mankind" has contributed to it, or even caused it, and what, if anything mankind can do to reduce the affects of the problem.) Naturally, there are many, many more issues for the next administration and Congress to deal with. And we in the public will need to be thinking about these issues, too.
posted by Randy at 1:01 AM
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