What qualities do make a president?
Rodney Henry
Issue date: 6/20/07 Section: Opinions
The race is on, and names are now being matched with the faces of all the candidates running for presidential office in 2008. For the last eight years, President George W. Bush has led the United States, the land of the free and home of the brave, with a performance that some think is not as strong as other Republican presidents of the past or presidents in general. Ronald Regan's name and legacy have come up many times as the American people reflect on the past eight years and now look to the candidates seeking office for the next four years.
There are always many candidates that start off in the race knowing they really don't stand a chance at winning. Some run anyway, to support their party beliefs or another candidate in some way, while others simply have nothing better to do.
Three viable candidates leading the way in the upcoming election are Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, and former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. Although they are leading in many polls now in their respective parties, they still face major hurdles that some think will hold them back from the White House doors.
Of course, we will deal with ladies first. Sen. Clinton has a strong appeal to Americans today with her balanced track record and past showing that she has never been afraid to fight for what she cared about, such as a rise in the national wage. She has also been a leader in the fight for women's rights, along with protecting families. Nevertheless, the question that lingers over the ex-first lady's head is, will America elect its first female president? Is America ready to make a move forward, as other nations have already done? Iceland, Chile and Argentina, as well as several other countries, have already led the way with women leading their governments. Could Sen. Clinton go from first lady, to senator to president? Only time will tell.
Another issue that seems to be giving presidential hopeful Mitt Romney some problems is religion. Romney is a practicing Mormon. People have been frowning on this but seldom has anyone asked what a Mormon really believes. According to mornom.org, they operate in the same premise as other churches in the United States, focusing on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you didn't know any better, you would have thought the Mormon religion didn't believe in Jesus Christ or they worshiped several gods, based on the reactions of some Americans once they hear Romney is a Mormon.
Then you have Barack Obama, the man that seems to have connected with Americans on an emotional level. Not many presidents have been able to have the kind of bond with their countrymen. John F. Kennedy may have been the last emotionally-connected president the United States has seen. Although he has this special bond, Sen. Obama has to face America as a black man. And, while this is the view of the majority of Americans, others see Sen. Obama not a black man, but as a foreign, mixed man. Obama's father was born in Kenya while his mother was a midwestern girl born in Kansas. Fighting the majority as a common African American or proving his blackness to others, Obama has a major fight on his hands.
In the end, what matters? At the end of all the reviews of three presidential candidates and the many others that are fighting for American approval for 2008, the issues that will elect the next president are the same across the board.
Who has a plan, a plan to make the United States energy independent? Who has a plan to care for the ills of the middle class? A plan to prepare for the fall of the Social Security system as we know it, and, most important, a plan to get American troops home safely while still assuring the American people and the world that we will not allow terrorism to win the war.
This will be the person, man or woman, Christian or Mormon or African American or black man. The parts of this persondon't matter if America is to save itself from itself. What matters is that this person is a leader, a person with a vision that the rest of the United States can believe in and a person with the character to make America the beauty it once was.
Rodney Henry is a senior marketing major and can be reached at rmh2n@mtsu.edu.
There are always many candidates that start off in the race knowing they really don't stand a chance at winning. Some run anyway, to support their party beliefs or another candidate in some way, while others simply have nothing better to do.
Three viable candidates leading the way in the upcoming election are Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, and former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. Although they are leading in many polls now in their respective parties, they still face major hurdles that some think will hold them back from the White House doors.
Of course, we will deal with ladies first. Sen. Clinton has a strong appeal to Americans today with her balanced track record and past showing that she has never been afraid to fight for what she cared about, such as a rise in the national wage. She has also been a leader in the fight for women's rights, along with protecting families. Nevertheless, the question that lingers over the ex-first lady's head is, will America elect its first female president? Is America ready to make a move forward, as other nations have already done? Iceland, Chile and Argentina, as well as several other countries, have already led the way with women leading their governments. Could Sen. Clinton go from first lady, to senator to president? Only time will tell.
Another issue that seems to be giving presidential hopeful Mitt Romney some problems is religion. Romney is a practicing Mormon. People have been frowning on this but seldom has anyone asked what a Mormon really believes. According to mornom.org, they operate in the same premise as other churches in the United States, focusing on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you didn't know any better, you would have thought the Mormon religion didn't believe in Jesus Christ or they worshiped several gods, based on the reactions of some Americans once they hear Romney is a Mormon.
Then you have Barack Obama, the man that seems to have connected with Americans on an emotional level. Not many presidents have been able to have the kind of bond with their countrymen. John F. Kennedy may have been the last emotionally-connected president the United States has seen. Although he has this special bond, Sen. Obama has to face America as a black man. And, while this is the view of the majority of Americans, others see Sen. Obama not a black man, but as a foreign, mixed man. Obama's father was born in Kenya while his mother was a midwestern girl born in Kansas. Fighting the majority as a common African American or proving his blackness to others, Obama has a major fight on his hands.
In the end, what matters? At the end of all the reviews of three presidential candidates and the many others that are fighting for American approval for 2008, the issues that will elect the next president are the same across the board.
Who has a plan, a plan to make the United States energy independent? Who has a plan to care for the ills of the middle class? A plan to prepare for the fall of the Social Security system as we know it, and, most important, a plan to get American troops home safely while still assuring the American people and the world that we will not allow terrorism to win the war.
This will be the person, man or woman, Christian or Mormon or African American or black man. The parts of this persondon't matter if America is to save itself from itself. What matters is that this person is a leader, a person with a vision that the rest of the United States can believe in and a person with the character to make America the beauty it once was.
Rodney Henry is a senior marketing major and can be reached at rmh2n@mtsu.edu.
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posted 6/20/07 @ 1:38 PM EST
"For the last eight years, President George W. Bush has led the United States, the land of the free and home of the brave, with a performance that some think is not as strong as other Republican presidents of the past or presidents in general. (Continued…)
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