Six Candidates in Search of an Office
by modern living editor Jason Capodimonte
Our affiliated blogger, Johnny Eleven, was writing the other day about what he thinks the most important priority facing American voters is this year. He thinks the big priority should be hauling the nation’s sorry ass out of the handcart. Economy collapsing, stature in the world shrunken, no apparent strategy in Iraq – Johnny finds these things disturbing.
We thought we’d see if the candidates are of the same mind as Johnny, so we reviewed the issues sections of the websites of the three Democrats and three Republicans who seem, very early in primary season, to be the favourites to win their parties' nominations for president.
Our reviews are presented in alphabetical order:
Hillary Clinton: Sen. Clinton's slogan encourages us to "help make history." Her top priority is in fact getting the economy back in order, although in her list of priorities she disguises it as "strengthening the middle class." Most of her proposals for strengthening the middle class involve giving its members money and benefits, but she does propose returning to balanced budgets, and implies that she favours a return to rules requiring that new programs be financed by increases in non-tax revenue or by cuts in other programs.
As for Iraq, she states explicitly that she wants a Yugoslavia-style "solution." Of course, that does not necessarily imply that she would support imposing a solution on Iraq's various factions and nationalities that's acceptable to none of them, or perhaps to just one, but that's what happened in Yugoslavia. She also wants this solution brokered by the UN, which, considering some of the nations in the United Nations, may not be the most effective approach.
She also wants to "strengthen America's standing in the world," but her plans for that are vague.
John Edwards: Sen. Edwards ("Join the campaign to change America") is the candidate of diversity or, as we put it in another article, the neo-corporatist candidate. On his issues page he's got policies for African-Americans, he's got policies for Asian-Americans, he's got policies for islanders, Latinos, women, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, women, young people, old people, people with disabilities! Oh, wait – no policies for Native Americans. Isn't that always the way? With the best intentions in the world you always forget someone.
To re-establish good relations with other countries, Sen. Edwards wants the United States to "reclaim the moral high ground that defined [its] foreign policy for much of the last century." For example, he wants to ignore the Kyoto accord and sign a treaty to reduce carbon emissions only when other countries accept the United States' idea of where the moral high ground is (to be fair to Sen. Edwards, none of the candidates reviewed here expresses support for the Kyoto protocols).
Like Sen. Clinton, Sen. Edwards hides economic issues under pro-family issues. None of his statements reveal a plan for getting the American economy back on its feet, though. His solution to Iraq seems to be to say "Ooops, my mistake!" and pull the troops out. He would also have "talks" with neighbouring countries about stabilizing Iraq. There's your moral high ground for you.
Mike Huckabee: Gov. Huckabee's slogan is "Faith. Family. Freedom." Of course, people of faith are notorious defenders of freedom these days. On his issues page he advocates eliminating all federal income and payroll taxes and replacing them with a flat consumption tax, with expenses considered appropriate for poor people exempted from the tax (as in Canada, the exemption would be accomplished by a rebate). He doesn't explain how he's going to arrange this transformation of the tax system. To control expediture, he wants a line-item veto. He doesn't explain how he's getting that, either.
His position on Iraq is to wait and see if the surge works. He also wants to arrange a summit of all those faith-based defenders of freedom in the region to get that Iraqi democracy off to a good start. His position on improving America's position in the world is non-existent; his interests in foreign policy consist of getting tough with Pakistan, staying tough with Cuba, and supporting Israel.
John McCain: The old straight-shooter's slogan is "Courageous Service. Experienced Leadership. Bold Solutions." On his issues page Sen. McCain advocates lowering taxes and eliminating both deficit spending and excessive borrowing. As for Iraq... he can win it! He's going to send in more troops, and get international support for going after Syria and Iran. If he gets in I don't think we Canadians will have to worry any more about whether fewer Americans will coming here, because Sen. McCain is going to be bringing back the draft. He doesn't say he will, but I don't see how else he's going to get all those troops. Halliburton just doesn't have enough staff.
Improving relationships with the rest of the world does not seem to be a priority for Sen. McCain.
Barack Obama: On his issues page Sen. Obama ("Change we can believe in") offers proposals for restoring America's position in the world that are considerably less vague than Sen. Clinton's, and considerably more thought out than Sen. Edwards'. His position on Iraq and on rebuilding the economy are similar to Sen. Clinton's. This suggests that despite the American press's efforts to depict the campaign for the Democratic nomination as a spiteful catfight, if either of these candidates wins they're going to have a largely united party behind them.
Mitt Romney: His name really is Mitt, by the way. It was a way of naming him for his cousin Milton. His slogan is "True strength for America." On his issues page you find these positions:
- Iraq – not a priority! It's barely mentioned on his site.
- Improving America's standing in the world – not a priority!
- The economy – cut spending, line-item veto, restore the super-majority requirement for new laws that would raise taxes.
An underlying theme on all the candidates' websites is "I am not George W. Bush." Sen. McCain differs from the others, though, in being the only one to imply that Mr. Bush's Iraq policy isn't warlike enough. The candidates' economic plans seem to have similar goals and largely similar means, although Gov. Huckabee and Gov. Romney are proposing some policies that they are highly unlikely to be able to implement. Nobody's giving you a line-item veto, boys.
None of the candidates' plans for Iraq are likely to succeed in leaving a stable democratic (or undemocratic) government in Iraq. But we knew that already, and we suspect Americans know that, too. Sen. Obama's plans for restoring America's stature in the world were the only real plans on any of the websites. The Republicans don't see that as a priority at all.
While Johnny Eleven underestimated the candidates' interest in the countries' ecoonomic predicament, he seems to have been right to doubt their positions on Iraq and on America's stature in the world. But, Americans, there is hope! On election day, write in Johnny Eleven!
Six Candidates in Search of an Office © John FitzGerald, 2008
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