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Picking a President

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Posted on Jan 1, 2008

By Marie Cocco

WASHINGTON—If the truism holds that nothing is certain in politics, then the frantic run-up to the Iowa caucuses is perhaps the least certain indicator of the forces that will shape the national agenda come Jan. 20, 2009, Inauguration Day.

    In 2000, also a year when no incumbent president was running, these were the issues that proved successful for the two Iowa winners, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush: Gore easily beat Bill Bradley by arguing in part that the former senator from New Jersey would jeopardize the future of Medicare. Democrats who caucused that night said their most important issues were the meat and potatoes of the party’s politics—Social Security, Medicare and education.

    Bush won handily as the pick of those Republicans who placed moral issues at the top of their agenda, as well as those who based their choice on which Republican seemed most electable in November. 

    The cliché that everything has changed over the past seven years is not really a cliché. It is a cold, hard, dangerous reality.

    The world is more imperiled. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, which touched off a round of campaign bickering in both parties, has again laid bare the disastrous slide into instability in crucial regions, and the failures of American policy in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. All have become more threatening to world security from the myopic and incompetent prosecution of the so-called global war on terror as practiced by the Bush administration.

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    This is why Rudy Giuliani’s incessant recollections of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and his ad promoting the valor of rescue workers (and by extension, his own) seem as outdated as a Gore pitch about Medicare. The deterioration of security abroad—chaotic Pakistan is a nuclear power, the new base of al-Qaida and the presumed hide-out of Osama bin Laden—makes the remembrance of 9/11, and the Giuliani commercial’s linkage of it to an even more distant World War II, seem jarring. The next president’s most immediate job will be to begin repairing the worldwide damage done to the nation’s image and its foreign policy interests over the past seven years. It is the only conceivable way to prevent some other mayor in some other city from having to confront what Giuliani did on 9/11.

    If Giuliani seems passé, the emergence of Mike Huckabee as a top-tier Republican contender is ludicrous. Huckabee is the choice of many social conservatives disgruntled with a Republican field they suspect of infidelity to their core concerns. But the former Arkansas governor’s bizarre linkage of the Bhutto assassination with the issue of illegal immigration from across the Mexican border exposes him as ill-prepared, if not too incompetent, to hold presidency.

    Among Democrats, the Barack Obama phenomenon is a replay of the Jimmy Carter experiment. Carter emerged from obscurity to win the Iowa caucuses—and eventually the White House—in precisely the sort of political moment that Obama attempts to seize now. The country felt a fundamental disgust at Washington after Watergate. It looked to the fresh face of an outsider to become its healer, if not its savior.

    History tells us how the Carter presidency turned out. The former Georgia governor was incapable of dealing effectively with a Congress that was controlled by his own party, let alone the dramatic foreign threats that flared on his watch.

    Carter has succeeded on a global scale as a former president—proof that experience does indeed count.

    It is possible to envision only four potential presidents in the current crop of candidates. John McCain, with his long experience in military affairs and his well-founded—if too-occasional—pique at business-as-usual, is the sole Republican who could conceivably be trusted in the job. Bill Richardson and Joe Biden, two Democrats who have languished near the bottom of the Democratic pack, have foreign policy experience and wisdom. Hillary Clinton, whose unprecedented travels abroad as first lady brought her face to face with the abject poverty, political oppression and historical injustices that roil so much of the world, has a legitimate claim as well.

    In 2004, John Kerry invigorated what had been a moribund campaign by asking Iowans not just to send a message but to “send them a president.” Clinton’s recent campaign slogan is that it is “time to pick a president.”

    Kerry was right and Clinton is right. The rest of us can only hope that Iowa listens.   

    Marie Cocco’s e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com.

    © 2008, Washington Post Writers Group


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By Sue, January 3, 2008 at 4:14 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Hillary is expirience with a capital “E”.
The simple fact that she served as a governors wife, a president’s wife and 8 years in the US senate is proof enough.
She’ll be a great president!

Obama would serve as a great vice president, although, I wish he would serve out his two terms in the senate like Hillary, get more expirience and then run again in 2016. Keep the democrats in office for the next 16 years!
He’s to new and a little wet behind the ears yet.
I wouldn’t trust him to know what to do in an emergency. We’re living in a scary time now thanks to George Bush and his cronies, and I’d feel more secure with someone who would because of their time spent in Washington and knows the ins and outs of how things are done. ...expirience!

I think he insults all those candidates who can profess literally their expirience over his.
He also carries with him an arrogance of a young pup which I think would be more endearing if he’d just wait his turn.  It’s more of a turn off right now.

The only things in common with Obama and Hillary is he will be fighting the prejudice of the country and she having two against her such as being Hillary Clinton herself, and with all the woman haters of the country, being a woman.

I’m hoping that Iowa won’t let us down by voting with the attitude that this is a popularity contest instead of choosing the best candidate for the job of the next commader in chief.

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By SamSnedegar, January 3, 2008 at 8:52 am #

I can’t put any confidence at all in the fabled “American people that get it right” who TWICE gave a moron enough votes to cheat his way into power. That a moron like Freddy Ballscratcher could even RUN for POTUS let alone appear to win after all the cheating is done says all that needs to be said.

That the best we have to offer, like Paul and Kucinich, are marginalized and destroyed by the msm says it all: i.e. the voting public are no more than victims of a giant Ponzi scheme and too naive and indifferent to ever “get it right.”

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By weather, January 3, 2008 at 7:27 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Cyrena, Jimmy Carter is a man w/portfolio.

He has seen how it works, he was lied to, bullied and probably threatened. 

It is precisely what you claim was his failed Presidency that makes him one of the few authentic examples of leadership. Humble, teachable, sincere and far more effecvtive then the disgraceful media would want you to ever see.

I was a 3rd. gen. Republican, Im an aging yuppie and I see how horribly my shallow affiliations made a Bush possible.

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By cyrena, January 3, 2008 at 1:30 am #

Patrick Henry,

Thanks so much for this link. Quite revealing, as you noted…not just for who is on it, but for who is NOT. Not a sign of Kucinich, or Ron Paul either for that matter.

And, look at where Bloomberg is, and he hasn’t even announced any candidacy. I didn’t know a whole lot about him before, and now I know enough (from this) to know that he would NOT be a choice for us. (Israel maybe, not US)

Oddly enough, they’ve also included Chuck Hagle…and HE hasn’t announced any candidacy either, even though I suspected he might be part of a consideration, based on the article that I posted a few days ago, on the upcoming ‘unity’ conference that Bloomberg has organized.

So, how is it that that the Israelis, (in their MAIN media) have already included these guys in THEIR considerations, for OUR president, and WE have nothing more than a ‘rumor’ (if that much) that they are even considering such.

Kind of makes us wonder why we bother, eh? Should we just wait to decide on who the Israelis choose for us?

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By weather, January 3, 2008 at 12:01 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Want to improve America’s self-esteem?

Impeach Bush, then free us from the manipulating deceit that is Israel and above all bust-up the MSM monster that made all the Ugliness possible.

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By MackTN, January 2, 2008 at 10:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I bet you had to rewrite this column quite a few times in order to make your logic exclude and include the “right” people—though it sounds like it was constructed to exclude Obama and include Hillary.  Most would agree that you give Hillary way too much credit for those trips Bill set up for her so that he could have more fool-around time.  Hillary has done what any overscheduled country club doyenne spends her time doing everyday—working on behalf of kids and other charitable causes and managing the life of her family.  I accuse her of inflating her resume.  Back when Bill was running for president, she told us she was baking cookies and putting a little time in at the office.  Now all of a sudden, it turns out that she’s been a secret agent for 35 years, working for change (when actually she was raking in more than change but some big bucks).  Funny how a few years in the senate and a few wrong votes in roll call can inspire one to recast themselves as a legend (instead of not Tammy Wynette).

Joe Biden’s hardheadedness may not be that big of a flaw in these modern times.  He, more than anyone else on the Democratic ticket, has been involved in more legislative and political encounters to enable him to work the presidency as a pro from day one.  Both he and John Edwards could be the president from day one, providing the leadership and the muscle to get things done. 

I keep waiting for Obama to spell out specifics; I can’t cast a vote on the basis of hope, change, faith—I won’t even tithe on that kind of message.  I want to make sure that what he sees as change and what I view as change agree.  And I want some assurance that this occupation will end.

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By PatrickHenry, January 2, 2008 at 9:45 pm #

Rank your candidate, the Israelis already did.

Please note who is not on their list.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerPage.jhtml

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By ocjim, January 2, 2008 at 9:44 pm #

I’m not sure where Marie is going with her piece but one thing is sure: we can’t afford another conservative man like McCain. If she is promoting McCain, no one has shown more lack of spunk, more partisanship than McCain. No one has shown more equivocation than clinton. If she is comparing Obama in his inexperience to Carter, that doesn’t wash either.

All I know is if we again choose the wrong man or woman to succeed the utter failure we call Bush, we are in trouble. Eight years of the Bush mistake has our democracy and our planets welfare on the ropes.

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By i,Q, January 2, 2008 at 7:46 pm #

So dark the Clinton con.

This article might as well be a glorified bumper sticker handed out by HillaryoUS. i’ve always heard that Clinton connections with the media run deep, now i’m seeing all of these completely unreasoned articles patting good ol’ Hilary on the back. Suspicions confirmed.

Where is the meat in this article? None to be found. Simply asserting your opinion is not political news nor convincing op/ed. Neither is to reiterate the HillaryoUS campaign slogan and say, “Yeah, pick a president like me…” Weak and transparent at best.  And to suggest that great leadership lies in “Look at me, I got a POW released…” Richardson, who barely edges the current presidential mis-speaker in abilities of public oration, who has assured America that he will “continue to make mistakes,” yet is the most likely VP candidate for Hilary… oh wait, i see it now. This is the handbill for the “Victory from the Jaws of Defeat” playbook being distributed to unscrupulous journalists nationwide who covet access should HIllary the Inevitable win the presidency.

Leave the biased love letters to us, the peanut gallery.

A nod to Cyrena for pointing out the omission of Kucinich as having plenty of chronological as well as meaningful experience.

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By lodipete, January 2, 2008 at 4:04 pm #

CoccoPuff seems to put a lot more importance on the “World” and our “image” abroad than seems warranted. The real problems are right here at home and we’d better fix them before embarking on any more crusades or humanitarian missions. Our era as global messiah is just about over.

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By too lazy, January 2, 2008 at 2:33 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Being first lady does not give one the insight into being a president.  And Hillary did have a shot at reforming healthcare, she blew it.  It wasn’t just a faiilure, it was a disaster.  She has experience as a failure.  Fool me once…  we know how the rest goes.

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By cyrena, January 2, 2008 at 5:15 am #

Marie is using Jimmy Carter as an example of how important ‘experience’ is, based on his failed presidency,) to compare to the big ‘issue’ that all have chosen to use against Obama. (it’s a constant refrain now…he doesn’t have any ‘experience’)

Somebody help me out here. Did the American public not have ANY understanding of the word just over 7 years ago? Did NO ONE even give that a thought? I mean sure, things have changed DRASTICALLY in the past 7 years, and we all know that. But were things really so peachy keen 7 years ago, to prompt this:

•  Bush won handily as the pick of those Republicans who placed moral issues at the top of their agenda, as well as those who based their choice on which Republican seemed most electable in November.

Was that REALLY the only thing folks were concerned about back then? Moral issues for the repugs, and medicare, social security, and education for the Dems? Is this why Bush won ‘handily’ even though he had ZERO ‘experience’ in moral issues, or any damn thing else?

Well yes, I do believe she’s right. As a matter of fact, I distinctly remember having a ‘political’ conversation with a cousin over the merits of Gore v Bush, and my cousin told me that he didn’t feel confident or secure with Gore, because….(get this), “he really hadn’t DONE anything!” (never mind those 8 years as VP). And yep, my cousin still votes, and a whole bunch of those same people still exist.

So, I don’t get the ‘experience’ thing with Obama, although I’ll admit that Bill Richardson has more, and she mentioned him along with Biden. But, Kucinich has more than Hillary, and she didn’t even mention him.

The part of Hillary’s experience that she ‘did’ mention, (traveling around to visit politically oppressed peoples w/ historical injustices) isn’t all that different from Obama’s rather international character. They’re both attorneys; he’s a civil rights attorney who has taught int’l law, and she’s a corporate attorney, who once represented Georgie the kid in one of his many failures as a wanna be oil exec with Harken Oil; when he lost all of the investors’ money. (yep, she helped bail him out THAT time!)

She’s been a Sen. for what, nearly 5 years now? He was in the Illinois Senate for a few years, and then now the US Senate for a couple or so. I’m not sure there’s a real big difference here, (experience wise) unless we’re counting chronological age, and at least 2 additional decades of experience in the corruptive nature of US politics. And Obama is well aware of the biggest festering infectious blister that brought so much of this ‘terrorist’ stuff upon us anyway. Yeah, tiny little Israel, and all the millions of ethnically cleansed Palestinians. He’s been in tune with that for at least a decade. (until he got mixed up in the corruption of the US game and got busy.) Has Hillary ever made THAT connection? Not that I’ve ever heard her talk about…in the past 2 decades. (Guess she missed them on her tour of politically oppressed peoples and historical injustices).

Then this:
•  “Former President Bill Clinton’s comment that his wife’s “first thing” as President would be to send him and former President George H.W. Bush on a worldwide fence-mending tour has a political subtext. It signals that a second Clinton administration would give a free pass to the second Bush administration on its abuses.

story @  Consortiumnews.com.

I think you blew this one Marie. Hillary’s is NOT the kind of ‘experience’ that we need, and I don’t think we’re dependent on Iowans to pick our next prez either. You should have read Boyarsky’s piece.
Biden is hard-headed, and if you won’t even MENTION Kucinich, then you better hope it’s either Richardson or Obama. Hillary’s ‘experience’ would give us 2 repug war mongers to choose from. Gee.
Oh! BTW. Osama bin Laden DEAD. Somebody should tell Barak. Hillary already knows.

I think we’re in deep shit. THAT much at least is correct.

3rd party miracle?

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