Posted by
John Robie on Friday, January 11, 2008 12:49:46 PM
January 10, 2008 2:55 AM EST
Political Analysis regarding the role Iraq will play in US Presidential Elections in 2008
The US efforts in Iraq have been the central point of contention in the past two American national elections. Many political analysts believe the issue will play the same role in the November 2008 Presidential Elections. The current trends on the ground in Iraq, as well as in America’s political rhetoric, indicate that the issue will actually play a significantly less prominent role than it has in recent history.
The substantial reductions in violence over the past four months appear to have robbed the domestic anti-war movement of much of its momentum, influence, publicity, and overall energy. If this trend continues, then it is highly unlikely that the Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate will use the Iraq-war issue to the same degree the party’s candidates used the issue in the 2004 and 2006 elections. We expect that the Democratic candidate will still cite Iraq as a policy failure, but the issue will not be the rallying cry it has been in the recent elections.
We expect that Democratic rhetoric will focus on Iraq as being a failed policy of the past rather than an ongoing crisis requiring immediate action. We expect the Democrats to criticize Iraq policy as a distraction from the war on terrorism. This rationale differs from the previous Democratic arguments that criticized Iraq policy for the human cost, especially as it applied to US troops...
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