by Clayton Griffin

Created on: May 01, 2008   Last Updated: March 11, 2011

Prior to the recent economic downturn, the war in Iraq was by far the number-one topic in the presidential race. So much was said by all the presidential hopefuls, and I am sure we will all remember what promises were made. The truth of the matter is, the elections will have no impact on the outcome of the war in Iraq. Of course, if John McCain finds himself in the White House, he will resume the current strategy and we will carry on as usual. I don't think anyone will disagree with that assessment. If Obama or Clinton are seated as the Commander in Chief, I foresee a classic political bait-and-switch. I can hear them now: "Well, now I am privvy to information that wasn't known to me before..." And you can fill in the rest. There will certainly be no change in the posture in Iraq immediately because the economic and fuel crunch is going to be the hot topic. As long as the economy is slowing and everyone feels the pain, it will undoubtedly be the number-one issue.

In addition, it seems like General Petraeus has won the hearts of the American people. After the General Betray Us add in the New York Times and the beating he received from Congress, he has been wildly successful in Iraq and the American people are impressed. Us common Americans want to win, and we love to see the General show the doubters in Congress what our boys in uniform can do. As long as General Petraeus stands in good graces with the American people and the people take interest in what he says, I believe it would be hard for a new president to change the strategy in Iraq. It will be especially difficult for Obama to change strategies due to his lack of experience - not only in foreign affairs, but also in military affairs. If he were to disagree with the General, it would be hard for Congressmen to fall in behind him as his lack of experience will be pointed out.

I have to wonder if Obama wants to change the current strategy anyway. I hear a lot of people that plan on voting for Obama say that Obama is going to get us out of Iraq. That is not exactly what his stance is. As I understand, he is going to leave an expeditionary strike force large enough to assist the Iraqis if they get into trouble. Essentially that is what we have in the theater right now. The Iraqis are fighting many of their own battles and the U.S. is only fighting in a support role. Obama may reorganize the face of the mission, but very little will be done to actually change.

On the other hand, what if Hillary Clinton was the Commander in Chief? Well, she seems to already have enraged the Code Pink crowd and other anti-war cliques with support of the current strategy. She supports the war and will probably publicly lean on the Iraqi government to do more in the fight -something that Bush has been doing privately. Clinton will not change what is going on in the war. She has been on the Armed Services Committee for several years and has a good handle on what is going on and will probably tow the line if she becomes President. If she were in the business of changing stance on the war, she had the perfect platform in the Committee to do.

In summary, it is easy to see there will be little change in the outcome of the Iraq war, no matter who the President is after the elections in November.

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