The Lack of Electable Candidates

I won't claim to be involved in the arena enough as of this date to cover each and every candidate that is in the up-and-running for the 2008 Presidential Election. But to name off the few that I have heard mentioned...

For the Democratic Nomination:

• Hilary Clinton - While appealing partially to a women's vote, she will also be hindered by a sexist vote opposed to that very fact. The fact that she is a Democrat will certainly help her, as it will with whomever gets the D nomination, but she has too much history with the prior Clinton administration, and she is probably too far left for the majority of voting Democrats. Add this to the fact that she is simply not well liked by the public...
• Barack Obama – Obama presents a unique situation. His politics and views seem enough to grab him a Democratic nomination, and without Hilary’s baggage, he seems the more likely candidate. But the problem with him is mostly racial. Racism still exists in this nation, under the surface, and this will both add to his voter block and take away from it – truly only time can tell which will be greater. The primary difficulty he will have, in my opinion, is simply with his name. Barack Hussein Obama. I doubt that the voting public will be able to separate the ideas of ‘Muslim’, ‘Islam’, and ‘Terrorist’ from his name, to mention only a few – despite the fact that these are not true descriptors of the person.

For the Republican Nomination:

• Rudy Giuliani – Giuliani’s problem is simply with his party’s voters. Giuliani makes a charismatic leadership figure, prominently portrayed after the 9/11/01 crisis and made popular in the following months and years. However, his stances on moral-ethical issues such as homosexual marriage rights and abortion are variant with conservative Republican ideals, as are several others of his views – and last elections have shown that the moral-ethical issues are becoming an increasingly important factor in elections and ballot issues.
• John McCain – McCain is well-liked by both sides of the aisle, and is decently distant from the sitting President – a good thing for anyone who wants to run – but his simple problem will be his stance on Iraq. Sending more troops is not the answer that the American public wants, whether right or wrong – and his views on that could be his downfall.
• Mitt Romney – Romney is a poster Boy Scout, so to speak. Born into a high-standing family, two quarters at Stanford, a 30-month mission to France, undergraduate at BYU with honors, then Harvard’s law and business graduate degrees, joint, with honors. Ran against Ted Kennedy and came closer than any others to winning. Got his governorship in MA later, and is now poised to run for office. But look… he’s Mormon. Dislike of the LDS will cause him to lose. My question is, can he act as President without being influenced by the LDS hierarchy?

Two Democrats and three Republicans listed… none of them have all that much chance. But I will tell you this – unless the voters give an uncharacteristic swing of action, or the Democratic nominee is one that cannot be tolerated by the majority, the Democratic nominee will win the 2008 election. So our real contest will be… who gets that nomination? Who wins at the Democratic primaries?

Time will tell.

~Apollo~