Elections & the Democratic Ticket

If you had to pick your three major issues for the upcoming Presidential election, what issues would they be?

I think the majority of Americans will have one or more of these in their top three (whether or not they actually admit it out loud): Iraq War/War in general, Economy/Where federal money goes, Gender/Race conflicts.

Iraq War

According to FactCheck.org the differences between the leading Democratic candidates are small on this issue.

• Clinton: Goal to have all troops out. Reality is that some will likely remain, indefinitely (likely Special Forces for counterterrorism).
• Obama: Goal to have all troops out. Reality is that some will remain to support embassy, civilians, and counterterrorism.
• Richardson: Goal to have all troops out within 1 year of taking office.
• Edwards: Goal to remove all combat troops. Some token troops <5000.
• Kucinich: Goal to have all troops out within 3 months of taking office.
• Biden: IF/THEN proposal. If political settlement reached (that ends civil war), troops remain. If not, then troops removed.

Economy/Money

This general category refers to health care, jobs, immigration, etc. I think the category is less important only for the reason that until whatever candidate is forced to get the proposal past Congress, all the claims of what will be accomplished are moot points. So while you may favor one candidate’s health plan over another’s, it is not until the elected candidate is forced to try and get the bill through Congress and pay for it that the candidate can back up any of his/her claims.

Another point, if a Democratic gets elected President, that person will be in a slightly less advantagous position than President Bush was in 2000 (in terms of having party control of the House & Senate). The current unfavorable public opinion of the federal government will likely lead to elected politicians being more concerned with maintaining their jobs and party power than accomplishing much in the way of improving the nation.

Gender/Race conflicts

This is actually where I believe those not using the Iraq War as the deciding factor will probably end up using gender or race to make their decision. For the first time, a woman and a black man lead the polls in the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, those polls results do not reflect what I believe to be actual reality. I am more than willing and ready to be proved wrong, but I simply do not think the general American populace will elect either a woman or black man as President of the United States. Would the public settle for a woman or minority if they had no choice, yes. But given an alternative, I do not believe people will choose a female or minority leader.
That means I am pessimistic about either Clinton or Obama securing the Democratic nomination for President, much less either actually winning the general election. As I told someone this week, either of them would actually serve to bolster the chances of one of the white male candidates. So here would be my prediction. Assuming Clinton actually fails to secure the nomination, it will probably be Biden or Edwards leading the ticket with either Clinton, Obama, or Richardson balancing out the bottom-half of the ticket.