Indecisioon ’08

Indecision ‘08

Left Wing.

Barack Obama, once referred to by George W. Bush as “the pope,” is the candidate of the working class. He has projected an interesting dichotomy between a liberal platform and moderate rhetoric since his election into the United States Senate in 2004. His senatorial debut featured a keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and has since diligently endeavored to steer the nation out of the “long political darkness” of Bush War II. His existing exit strategy, dubbed the “Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007,” calls to begin troop withdrawals on May 1 of this year or sooner. His goal of complete removal of all combat brigades no later than March 31, 2007, therefore, is proposed to be achieved gradually as the Iraqis succeed in reducing sectarian violence, government reforms, infrastructure development, fair and distribution of oil revenue.

Other key issues of Obama’s blue-collar campaign is that of the need for universal health care, gay rights, and for a socio-economic alliance to be formed in the name of the gravely eminent environmental peril facing future generations. Obama represents the “Audacity of Hope” upon which the rapidly disappearing middle class is barely surviving.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, having represented New York in the United States Senate since her win in 2000, is the first woman to ever be nominated by a major political party. Soon after the announcement of her presidential bid, Clinton has expressed her urgency in swiftly ending the Iraqi War, as well as griping about median wage stagnation, lack of universal health care, and the ever-climbing price tag of higher education. Similar to Obama, Clinton has outlined a plan in the purpose of stabilizing the economy of the middle class. Despite her 2002 vote authorizing Bush’s Iraqi invasion, Clinton recently proposed to the senate a resolution involving the freezing of US troops at the numbers they had reached last month.

The final major candidate for the Democratic presidential bid is John Edwards, whose good looks and southern charm failed to bring John Kerry into the oval office in 2004. Along with the aforementioned candidates, Edwards vehemently opposes Bush’s war, a war which he voted for in the senate in 2002. He now refers to the president’s downward mobility upon his stating that “silence is betrayal” in a recent speech. In addition, Edwards has stated, “George Bush's expected decision to adopt the McCain Doctrine and escalate the war in Iraq is a grave mistake.” He insists that the solution to Iraq’s civil war is of a non-military specimen. Residing at the root of his campaign, however, seems to lie optimistic poverty-fighting mechanisms reacting to catastrophic natural disasters and middle class economic strife alike through breaking up areas of condensed squalor. John Edwards hopes to also take initiative in the effort to alleviate Global Warming as well as the United States’ obsession with foreign oil.

Right Wing.

Rudy Giuliani first illustrated his leadership potential through the September 11th attack and its immediacies. Despite his partisanship, Giuliani has spoken moderately on many issues including but not limited to same-sex marriage, abortion, gun control, immigration rights, and embryonic stem cell research. This moderate stance has already alienated the “bible belt” and social conservatives from their support, proving to be a fascinating political move on Rudy’s part. The candidate views immigration of nowhere near the deep-seated animosity of his pears, rather, he sees immigration as “practical approach” to tackling rudimentary economic stabilization. In terms of the Iraqi war, Giuliani holds the stance that pulling out would be “a terrible mistake”

Senator John McCain, running in the name of “Common Sense Conservatism,” recently stated in a speech to the GOPAC that, “Our most important obligation, of course, is to protect Americans from the threat posed by violent extremists who despise us, our values and modernity itself. They are moral monsters.” Despite his ardent support for the war, McCain does comment that he wishes to lessen global dependency on foreign oil. In the same speech, McCain takes the opportunity to note the economic prosperity of the nation, after which he proceeds to inform his audience that minorities are poor, ignorant, and engulfed within the rapidly dissipating middle class. Environmentally, McCain’s voting record in the Senate indicates legitimate concern over issues such as but not limited to global warming and Arctic drilling.

Newt Gringrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives, is a crusader for