The Colby Echo

Issue date: 2/9/07 Section: Opinions

With the mid-term elections well behind us, politicians, citizens, and the media have already begun to speculate about the candidates for the presidential election in 2008. Next year will be my first chance to vote for the commander in chief, because I was 17 at the time of the last election. I had considered pulling a Brian Johnson from The Breakfast Club and getting a fake I.D. for the sole purpose of being able to get into the polls, but ultimately decided against it for obvious reasons.

Now that I'm legal, however, I'm likely one of the most excited people on campus to vote. Consequently, I'm glad the election coverage is starting so early. It gives politicians the time to consider whether they ought to be running and voters the time to learn sufficiently about the candidates so that they can choose the best one. I hope that each party offers an attractive pair of candidates, as I found the options in the previous election tremendously disappointing. As improbable as this wish may sound, I am encouraged that it may actually happen because the names being tossed thus far around are quite promising.

Regarding the Democrats, I'm greatly relieved John Kerry announced last week that he will not be running. While I enjoy them on my feet in the summer, flip-flops are not desirable contenders for the Oval Office. Also, Kerry strikes me as a very negative individual. Just about everything he says is highly critical of our country, which wouldn't be such an issue if he offered genuine plans for improvement, but he doesn't.

With Kerry out of the picture, most of the democrats' attention is on Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, and Al Gore. The first four have officially entered the race, and the fifth hasn't made a decision one way or the other but I'm including him optimistically because I'm rather partial to him. Of the five, Obama and Clinton are the most controversial, which makes it that much more important to go beyond their images into more substantive indicators of how successful they would be as president.

I love the idea of a young, African American president, but I have trouble getting behind Obama because he is so inexperienced. He is just starting his second year in the Senate and hasn't yet made any noteworthy contributions. Furthermore, his platform presents the standard, appealing rhetoric about the need for lower taxes, a new energy policy, and an end to the war in Iraq, but lacks convincing information about how he intends to do so. Obama will be a viable candidate in another ten years or so, after he has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities and prepared a more compelling strategy.

Continued...

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