The 2008 election is also pivotal to maintaining the reputation of the US president- or is it? Americans, and the world in general, have been losing respect for the office of the president. And why shouldn’t they? Clinton cheated on his wife with an impressionable young woman and further tainted his reputation by taking things from the whitehouse at the end of his term. Bush, alias “W,” has never been widely respected. Many people think he cheated his way into his first 4 years as president. And there are countless calendars and bumper stickers that mock his intelligence. So have Americans lost respect for their president? Is this loss a reflection of faults of our recent leaders? Or perhaps merely a product of our liberal culture? Will the 2008 US president be able to win greater respect for his/her office?

Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that the 2008 election will now dictate our policy in Iraq? November demonstrated that this country will vote out Republicans, if we are in a similar situation come 2008. Republicans will do everything possible to be out of Iraq by early 2008 (whether they think it is a good idea or not). That is a sad commentary on what makes our government tick. The Iraq government does not need a timetable- - they know when our next national election is.

Only time will tell. Iraq is such a contentious issue - there are many reasons to stay and many to leave. The voting public is starting to show opposition to our military presence in Iraq, but the other Bush administration initiatives aren’t going anywhere: stem cell research bans and social security reform, to name a few.