I saw earlier the discussion regarding the potential failure of President Bush to secure re-election. A few observations if I may…
It was suggested that the state of the US Economy will play a large factor in the polls - and fair enough. If memory serves me correctly, that was the same left hook which sunk President Bush Senior in 1992. Nonetheless, if I may, I’d like to comment upon the two opposing perceptions which are at play here - namely, domestic US politics, and international US politics.
I recognise that things have taken a turn for the worse within the USA over the last few years - and indeed, those who have borne the brunt certainly have my empathy - without doubts. And accordingly, those same people have a right within the United States to make their voices heard - loudly and clearly - come election time.
But it was pointed out by someone that such a thing could possibly “drown out” the Iraq problem; that the American people would tend to “sweep it under the carpet” as it were. Well, that’s OK… I understand how these things happen.
Still, I’d like to offer a perspective from an Australian ally and friend however. There’s an arguement amongst the downtrodden on this globe who would argue, not without merit, that THEIR lot in life is far, far, FAR worse than the lesser priviliged citizens of the United States. (And bear in mind that we Australians don’t fall into this camp thankfully). Still, amongst those poor unfortunates, they would be looking upon the next 12 months of internal US politics with great disdain and contempt I suspect. Their attitude would be along the lines of… “Holy fuck you American assholes… you’ve gone into a country, banged the living bejesus out of it, turned it into an anarchic nightmare where guns and RPG’s rule the night, and now? All you care about is whether you’re gonna be able to afford that 2nd SUV or not? Go and shove a pick-axe up your asses…”
Now, I hasten to add, I personally don’t agree with this perception - but you see - what happens when the “people are suffering” arguement enters the political domain is this - there’s always somebody out there (in this case in many places overseas) who are worse off than yourself - and in that context the “people are suffering” arguement becomes a question of relativity. By extension, the really militant extremists who are out there start to think along the lines of “You Americans think that YOU’RE suffering? You don’t know the meaning of the word. We’ll show you what REAL suffering means!”
And off they go and start planning another 9/11 or another Bali Bombing - and so on - and so on.
Accordingly, it’s a cycle which in some respects is governed by the US Presidential election - in particular, the desire to be re-elected means that international policy and attention by Americans towards the rest of the world takes a back seat for about 18 months every 4 years in favour of internal US politics - and that’s where the window of opportunity presents itself for the bin Laden’s of this world to do their most obscene and horrific planning.
Effectively, my point is this - because the US Presidential election is so locked in stone, and so institutionalised these days, there are immense temptations for the American public to take their eye off the “international ball” during the election lead up. And that’s a dangerous thing. It leaves you open to a blind-side attack.
In short, the USA either has to totally, and utterly do everything in her power to show the world that she can rebuild a country like Iraq - damn the expense and damn the torpedoes - or hand over the job to the United Nations. If the former is the decision, and it’s allowed to fall from public conscious during the electoral leadup, the wrong signals will be sent I rather think - and that’s what this ultimately has been all about - sending the right signals.
