Essay on Presidential Election 2008

The Topic of War within the Presidential Election

The first election occurred many and many centuries ago. The idea of holding an election came about because of an overwhelming desire of the human nature to make the choice. When thinking about it, one can say that the process of carrying out a democratic election had improved over the years. This seems be true because, today we have publicity – it is very easy for a citizen to receive a full information about the candidate. We are also equipped will all kids of machines that assist in the fair and accurate calculation of the votes. Moreover, today the people are more familiar with the right and obligations they have, as well as they are willing to rule the sway of their and the countries’ destinies. Though, at the same time, the stated above is rather controversial, because the more developed humans get, the more corrupt they seem to be. Thus, carrying out a just and fair election is a very complicated task indeed.

In my paper I would like to talk about the 2008 Election that will be carried out in the United States of America this year in November. Currently, the whole world is watching the rivaling of the main candidates from Democratic and Republican parties with the bated breath. This is due to the fact, that under any circumstances, the USA continues to be a super power and the stream of action it chooses in the world politics will influence the whole world. Lower, I would like to give a brief introduction of the 2008 Election. However, the main objective of the paper is to provide the reader with information on the positions that the main Election rivals have on the issue of the War in Iraq.

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The United States Presidential election of 2008 is scheduled for Tuesday November 4, 2008. In fact, this year’s election will be the 56th consecutive quadrennial election that is held in the United States of America. At this election, the president of the country as well as the vice president will be elected. The Republican Party has chosen John McCain to be its nominee, while the Democratic Party has chosen Barack Obama. McCain is a senior United States Senator from Arizona, while Obama is a junior United States Senator from Illinois. John McCain and Barak Obama, as it is already obvious, are the main rivals of this election, however other parties have also put forward their nominees for the election. Congressman Bob Barr was nominated by the Libertarian Party Chuck Baldwin was nominated by the Constitution Party, and the Green Party has nominated the former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

John McCain, representing the Republican Party, of course, supports the position of George W. Bush on the War in Iraq. McCain states that he is not willing to keep troops in Iraq “a minute longer than necessary to secure our interests there.” Moreover, as he had said in one of his interviews, «a precipitous U.S. withdrawal would condemn Iraq to civil war and energize al-Qaida” (Telling America’s Story). John McCain had supported the troop surge that occurred in January 2007 and, in fact, was one of the earliest adherents of this strategy. McCain had always considered the surge to be necessary and he was very happy to proclaim in one of his speeches that “The surge has succeeded, and we are, at long last, finally winning this war» (Singer). John McCain has also supported the U.S.-Iraqi negotiations for a Status of Forces Agreement. The leitmotif of his speeches on this matter is that it is very important for the USA troops to leave Iraq in the state of democracy and return home as honored and glorified redeemers (Gordon).

John McCain considers that it is completely unacceptable for the United States to leave Iraq without unconditional and unquestioning victory. Doing otherwise, in his opinion, would be a sign of losing against the al Qaeda movement and the Shia extremists. Moreover, he believes that giving up the War in Iraq now would lead to the lowering of the United States’ prestige within other nations and bring the powerful country to the state of derision (Gordon).

Certainly, Barak Obama, representing the Democratic Party, tends to be of a completely different opinion on the matters of the War in Iraq. As early as in October 2002, when he was an Illinois state senator, Obama said, «I know that invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst rather than best impulses in the Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars; I am opposed to dumb wars.» In addition to that Barak Obama has many times stressed that the War in Iraq “diverts attention from fighting al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan”. Saying that, Obama tries to attract the attention of the world to the situation in Afghanistan that, in his opinion, currently requires much more concentration and awareness (Bumiller).

Barak Obama considers it necessary to withdraw the US troops from Iraq immediately. Moreover, he has suggested a plan in which he proposes to take out the troops at the rate of one to two brigades per month. This pace will allow most of the U.S. troops to be out of Iraq within 16 months of the U.S. presidential inauguration in January 2009. What is interesting is that Barak Obama is planning to enroll the released troops from Iraq into the war on terrorism in Afghanistan (Austein). In the framework of his election campaign Obama’s also states that if elected, he would “provide at least $2 billion to expand humanitarian aid to Iraqi refugees” (Telling America’s Story). He wants to make it obvious for everyone that the United States does not look for having permanent bases in Iraq. Importantly, Obama is eager to make every effort to reach stability not only of Iraq but also of Iran and Syria (Character and the Primaries of 2008). Naturally, Barak Obama had opposed the January 2007 troop surge, considering it unfounded and unjustified. To sum up the position of Barak Obama on this matter I would like to present the following long quote made by Obama in July, 2008 (Bumiller). «I have acknowledged repeatedly that the fact that we put more troops in there helped to quell the violence. The question is whether or not my position, in suggesting that we need to begin a phased withdrawal, we should have begun it earlier, whether that position that I took was a mistake. And I do not believe it was, because I continue to believe that the only way for us to stabilize the situation in Iraq -- I believed it then, and I believe it now -- is for the parties to arrive at a set of political accommodations.»

In conclusion it must be said that the topic of the War in Iraq tends to be the central issue of this year election. In fact, the position a candidate has on international policy and particularly this war, most of the times is, a deciding factor in the election (Bureau of International Information Programs). Already very soon, we all will be able to see what choice the American nation makes in regards to the interfering in Iraq. At this point we should just hope that any choice made, will be beneficiary for both country as well as the rest of the world.

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