If like me you’re sick and tired of the Bush’s administration’s foreign policy goals that have wrought so much pain and upheaval you’re probably hoping for a Democratic win in 2008. In this case it’s surely better the devil you don’t know, especially since the leading Republican nominee is likely to be Vietnam vet Sen. John McCain, who supports the occupation of Iraq and has rooted for the “surge”. There’s just one problem. John Kennedy clones are in short supply. Two-term president Bill Clinton is barred from running again. Al Gore has become the poster child for climate change, John Kerry was unfairly swift-boated out of the race and few can forget the Howard Dean scream. Who’s left?
First off, there’s Hillary Clinton, who last week officially threw her hat into the ring. “I’m in — and to win”, she said. Now while it’s true that Hillary, a junior senator, is immensely popular with voters hovering around the political middle ground in the more sophisticated states, she has hardly been embraced by the blue-collar class.
Hillary is further burdened by the sleaze accusations hurled at her husband and the fact that America has never had a woman in the Oval Office. But most important of all, until very recently, she has been a steadfast advocate of the war in Iraq — a history she would no doubt love buried in today’s staunchly anti-war climate.
A consummate, slick and tough political professional, Hillary has flip-flopped over Iraq and hopes nobody will notice. Following recent visits to Iraq and Afghanistan, the lady has come out swinging against the Bush White House and is calling for a drawdown of US troops in Iraq and increased military personnel to take on the Taleban.
To her advantage she has a recognizable name and is able to tap into a wealth of campaign funds. Her spin machine has already gone into action to bill her as the new Margaret Thatcher, emphasizing security, defense and personal strengths.
Her team’s evocation of “the Iron Lady” isn’t a good sign for this region. Thatcher, a former Conservative British prime minister, never shrank from wars, was stubborn in her beliefs and is still the doyenne of the British right.
Of greater concern for this part of the world is Hillary’s obvious affection for all things Israeli. During a 2005 speech at Yeshiva University, she railed against Iran and told her audience “how important it is for the United States to stand with Israel” in light of threats Israel faces “every hour of every day”.
At this stage of the game and with two years to go, Hillary’s prime contender is Barack Obama, the only African-American in the Senate. Obama’s rise to fame has been meteoric thanks to a surfeit of natural personal charisma that has afforded him almost rock star status in some circles. He is also unencumbered by pro-Iraq war rhetoric. Indeed, in 2002 he said: “I am not opposed to wars only to dumb wars”. In 2006, he said, “the days of using the war on terror as a political football are over...it is time to give Iraqis their country back”... milk and honey to the ears of a disenchanted public.
Obama’s credentials are impressive. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was the first African American to be elected president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. He also has two best-selling autobiographies under his belt — “Dreams from my Father” and “The Audacity of Hope”. His popularity is undeniable. He was almost mobbed in Ohio much to his own surprise and according to a January 18 Zogby poll, he is the leading Democratic contender in the State of New Hampshire, four points ahead of Hillary.
But is America ready for an African American president, whose father was born in Kenya and whose middle name is...wait for it!...Hussein?
It isn’t surprising that the right-wing knives are already being sharpened. Insight magazine, owned by White House ally the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, didn’t waste any time putting around the unsubstantiated rumor that Obama had studied in a Muslim madrasa as a child while right-wing pundits stress his name was originally Baraka, an Arabic word for blessed. Obama insists the word is Swahili. Like Hillary, Obama has visited Israel, voted in Israel’s favor and dutifully attended AIPAC conferences. But this is par for the course in US politics when doing anything else would constitute political suicide.
In light of the anti-Islamic sentiment prevalent in the US since Sept. 11, in short, Barack Obama’s nomination is likely doomed before it even gets off the ground. CNN’s mangling of his name from Obama to Osama, for which Wolf Blitzer apologized was less than auspicious.
Other potential players are John Edwards, John Kerry’s former uninspiring running mate, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Gen. Wesley Clark and 2004 Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, who recently said, “We are losing our nation to a philosophy of war and destruction”.
Kucinich is the poster child of the left with his calls to replace American troops in Iraq with UN peacekeepers, abolish the death penalty, ratify the Kyoto Protocol, repeal the Patriot Act and create a governmental Department of Peace. On the subject of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, he comes across as thoughtful and impartial. With America split down the middle and in need of someone who can bridge left and right, he doesn’t have a hope.
So will America get its first woman president or first African-American president? I’m going to stick my neck out and predict neither. I’m expecting the unexpected in the shape of a resurrected Al Gore, perhaps, or a new face that will step out of the shadows and take the country by storm?
