Well so far it’s been a war of words among Presidential hopefuls and of course the topic has been Iraq.
Illinois freshman senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton are considered to be the front runners in the race so far and so Republicans are already ripping into their would-be adversaries. Last week, Republican hopeful John McCain took a swipe at Obama, who in decrying the Democratic anti-war stance said, "For my part, I would rather lose a campaign than a war”.
In an online survey conducted by liberal MoveOn.org Senator Obama (with 28 percent of the vote) was voted best candidate to lead the United States out of Iraq. One time North Carolina Senator John Edwards was voted second with 25 percent. This was by no means a scientific poll because those responding weren’t selected randomly and were probably wearing their Obama t-shirts when filling out the survey. Despite it’s unscientificness, it does raise the point that democratic voters are very keen on finding a way out of Iraq, and more importantly, someone to lead them out of it.
It shows that this time round voters are unwilling to have their candidates tripped up by opponents who suggest that Democratic candidates like John Kerry don’t have a real plan on winning the war in Iraq and instead are more interested in using the words “get out of Iraq” as a rallying cry rather than a solution to the problem.
Whatever the reason is, the democratic think-thank is working again and a solution for Iraq is high on the agenda. Will Iraq be as big a hurdle for Obama or maybe even Senator Hillary Clinton in 2008 as it was in 2004 for Massachusetts Senator John Kerry?
Can Obama go the distance? Sure people are impressed by him, his oratory and his optimism, but it’s still very, very early in the race. There is no doubt that Mr. Obama has charm, and charisma not seen since Bill Clinton played his sax on the Arsenio Hall show back in the early 90’s. There is no doubt that so far Obama has captured the hearts and minds of many Americans. There is no doubt that he is sometimes seen as the un-Hillary. But then Ohio and New Hampshire roll around will that charm and Charisma have already warn off for something leaner and meaner in the form of Hillary Clinton? Will they trust Obama to finish the race? Strap yourself in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
