Controlling More than Just the Global Economy

Here’s a scenario: Just before Halloween 2008, Israel attacks Iran in an effort to eliminate the Muslim country’s nuclear weapons program. The Middle East democracy will have to do this eventually, anyway, and with the potential for an uncooperative liberal administration looming, there is little incentive to wait. The Iranian’s would mull over their options ranging from blocking the Strait of Hormuz to a retaliation strike on the Jewish homeland. The headlines would scream, and the International incident would sweep the economy off of the front page and place the notion of “survival” squarely in the laps of the Presidential electorate.

Senator John McCain would immediately voice support for Israel, as likely Senator Obama would too. However, the scene would benefit Senator McCain and work against senator Obama since McCain is the experienced world leader with foreign policy credentials. People would again see a strong world leader. Senator Obama’s response would be critical. If his reaction is weak as his performance in the Georgia crisis, he would likely lose the election.

With the proper timing of such a crisis, the dynamic of the American election would be altered. McCain, who has been hurt by the economic situation, would find an issue equally out of his control, but one that would counter its ill effects. His own party’s administration began McCain’s troubles by hailing the coming economic crisis with great fanfare, and a code red alert. They couldn’t have shouted any louder if they had been in the wheelhouse of the Titanic. The panic that ensued is the direct result of a pushy administration announcing that the sky is falling, instead of calmly handling the situation. They made the resulting panic much worse than it would have been.

McCain, who was screwed during the 2000 primary election by the Bush campaign, now gets his second dose at the end of the Bush Presidency. It makes one think that the Bush’s have something against Senator McCain.

Perhaps an outside interest that would prefer to see a McCain Presidency over one headed by Obama would consider pulling a trigger. The Israeli one described above is the most likely. The small democratic country has little faith in an Obama administration. Israel does not know how much backing it would receive from Obama despite his rhetoric. McCain’s support, they can count on; Obama’s is suspect. Given the nature of Israel’s history and its sensitivity toward its own survival, anything is possible even before the election. Such action would not only be a method to eliminate Iranian nuclear advancement, but it is the most direct way Israel could affect American policy at its root. They have the power to create alternative outcomes for the U.S. presidential race based upon their action, or lack of it.

What happens and when should be of primary concern to both Presidential candidates, as well as would-be supporters of each. Voters need to keep an eye on the global scene because in the crisis arena the military picture always trumps the economic one.