No question: the economy is the dominant issue in the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain. But foreign affairs is a close second, because it's on foreign affairs that the electorate is gauging the candidates' judgment, stability, leadership, knowledge and convictions. And when we talk foreign affairs these days in the United States, it pretty much comes down to one place: the Middle East. Here's a guide on where Obama and McCain stand on a variety of issues regarding the Middle East.
1. The Basics: Overviews of the Candidates' Policies
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Barack Obama and John McCain laid out the parameters of their foreign policy positions during the primary campaigns. Here's where the two tickets stand in general on the Middle East:Second Thoughts on Joe Biden and the Middle East
2. John McCain and the Middle East
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Republican candidate John McCain is running on his experience. He's been in the Senate 22 years, he was in the House of Representatives for four years before that. But he has faltered on several occasions on the campaign trail, confusing countries, issues and religions and raising more questions than he's answered. Here's a run-down of McCain on various Middle East policy fronts:
3. Barack Obama and the Middle East
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Barack Obama has had to contend with a two-front challenge in his campaign: On one front, he's fighting the traditional campaign to win voters' hearts and minds. On another, he's fighting an entirely untraditional campaign against stereotypical, sometimes racist, sometimes slanderous claims about his background.
4. The Obama and McCain Campaigns On the Trail
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It's one thing for the candidates to sit back and let their policy mavens write up white papers for them for publication in Foreign Affairs magazine. It's another when the candidates themselves are on the trail, hashing out issues and debating them face to face. Those events have revealed more candid, if not necessarily reassuring, sides of the candidates.
- How McCain and Obama Ignored the Middle East
- McCain-Obama Face Off on the Middle East: Excerpts from Their First Debate
- Biden-Palin Face off on the Middle East: Excerpts from Their Only Debate
- What the Biden-Palin Debate Says of Their Middle East Policies
- Forum: McCain and Obama on the Middle East: Any Real Differences?
- Sarah Palin second-Guesses Bush, But Not Israel
5. How Others See the McCain-Obama Race
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How Obama and McCain are perceived--the image they project, the reception their produce--is as important as what they say. As fascinating as it's been to watch them interact, it's been just as fascinating to see how they score, or don't score, in others' esteem.
- Recovering Neocon Francis Fukuyama to Vote Obama
- Barack Obama in the Middle East's Eyes
- Sarah Palin in Arab and Middle Eastern Eyes
- Super Tuesday Through Arab Eyes
- How Arabs See Bush's End-Of-Term Middle East Tour
- Arab-Americans: Obama Over McCain, 54-33%
- How Arab-Americans Vote
- Arab-Americans in the United States: Population Breakdowns By Battleground State
6. Middle East Issues Driving the Campaign
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Obama and McCain can't control issues driving the campaign, especially in the Middle East, where even local players can't control what happens. Here are some of the principal issues that will greet the winner, regardless who takes over the presidency on Jan. 20, 2009.
- Afghanistan, Seven Years On: Losses Outnumbering Gains
- Negotiating With the Taliban
- Who Are the Taliban?
- Troop Levels, and Western Casualties, in Afghanistan
- America’s Expanding, Dangerous War in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas
- "Greater Israel Is Over"
- West Bank Settlements, Israeli Lies, American Rice-Throwing
- Pakistan Beyond Musharraf: Let the Radiating Worries Begin
- Iraq War: Everything You Want and Need to Know
