On Monday, September 24, 2007, the L.A. Times published an article on its website about how Republicans are uniting against the idea of closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The article contains a great quote from Nebraska Senator Charles Hagel. Here is the quote:The Republican Party has won two elections on the issue of fear and terrorism. [It's] going to try again."
It's refreshing to see a Republican actually admit that his party used fear to win the 2002 and the 2004 general elections. The question remains, though, whether it will work in 2008.
On the one hand it might not because by the election of 2008 the U.S. will have been in Iraq for over five and a half years, with little or nothing to show for the tremendous human and financial cost. On the other hand it might because the GOP presidential nominee won't be George W. Bush. It is hard to know how much of the opposition to the war is based on Bubble-Boy's performance in office and how much is based on the objective reality of what's happening on the ground.
What is known, though, is that the Democratic nominee has to be tough enough to withstand the assault on his or her patriotism that is going to come from the Republicans. Which brings us to Hillary Clinton.
She isn't our first choice for President, Edwards is our first choice, and she might not even be our second choice, but one thing is obvious and that is that she is probably the toughest Democrat running. By that we mean that she doesn't get thrown off message and has the discipline to keep her eye on the ball.
A good friend of ours once remarked that every political campaign goes through a crisis at one time or another. Often the success of a campaign depends on the ability of the candidate and the campaign to rise above that crisis. So far this year, Hillary Clinton seems like the candidate best able to do that. She is certainly running the most effective campaign and is doing the best at staying on message.
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