Obama Strengths And Weaknesses

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In the wake of the March 4th primaries, Senator John McCain of Arizona has officially edged out former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for the Republican Party’s 2008 presidential nomination. The Democrats’ fate, on the other hand, remains uncertain, as Senator Hillary Clinton’s chances have been revived by victories in Ohio and Texas. However, the delegate math still favors Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois. One of John McCain’s most powerful political strengths stem from his heroic actions during the Vietnam War, in which he was captured after his jet was shot down over Hanoi. The North Vietnamese offered to release him, but McCain refused to leave without his fellow soldiers. So he was kept as a prisoner of war and tortured…show more content…
Despite the vague implications of the word, it seems to be ringing well with voters – especially Democrats – and he has succeeded in framing himself as the candidate of “change.” At the age of 46, Obama is viewed by many as a young, fresh face, having only been on the Washington scene since 2005. But in spite of his popularity, Obama has several key weaknesses that will become more apparent in a national campaign. According to the National Journal, Barack Obama’s voting record makes him the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate (“National Journal: Obama Most Liberal Senator in 2007”). In other words, no other senator has voted more strictly along the party line. This will certainly raise questions about his promises of bipartisanship and uniting the country. Moreover, the tag of “liberal” holds a certain stigma in American politics which proved detrimental to the campaigns of Democrats like Michael Dukakis and John Kerry. But Obama’s most glaring weakness by far is his inexperience. Critics say that he has only been in the Senate for three years, and has spent two of those years running for president (“Clinton hits Obama with experience TV ad.”). His record is somewhat difficult to scrutinize because it is indeed so brief. He has yet to write or sponsor a single significant piece of…show more content…
Obama has been praised by the Democrat base for his opposition to the war from the beginning, although it has been pointed out that he was not actually in the Senate at the time the war was voted on. McCain supports the war and was among the first to promote the current successful surge strategy. In a national election, however, the question of whether or not we should have gone to war will be far less important than the question of what course of action should be taken now. Obama favors an immediate troop withdrawal, while McCain argues that troops should remain in Iraq until the country is able to stabilize politically and prevent itself from becoming a haven for terrorists like Afghanistan did after its war with the
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