How Forgotten Iraq May Elect the Next President Whose war will win the election McCains or Obamas?
by Ira Chernus In 1932, in the midst of a disastrous economic meltdown, Franklin D. Roosevelt made “the forgotten man” the centerpiece of his presidential election campaign. Far more than we suspect, this year’s election may turn not on a forgotten man, but on a forgotten war in a forgotten country. Even before the present financial meltdown hit the news, the Iraq War had slipped out of the headlines and off the political stage. Now, as investment houses totter and bailout plans fill the headlines, it will be even harder for Iraq to get major media attention. Yet the war remains just beneath the surface of the presidential campaign, and so is sure to affect the outcome in ways too complicated to fully grasp. Think of that war not as one, but two currents, affecting the coming election all the more powerfully because they are out of sight, out of mind, and interacting in unpredictable ways out of anyone’s control. Obama’s War: The Realistic Disaster The first current is that of realisti
