Enjoying a laugh during Tuesday evening’s political debate are Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Mehlman and Harold Ford Jr.
The dinner panel on "Politics 2008" brought up a series of important issues that presidential candidates will face in the upcoming election season, as well as questions about the primary elections, the U.S. role in the global arena, immigration and health care. By far, the war in Iraq remained the most important topic.
Moderator Roger Ailes started the discussion with the question on what is going to be an impact at primary elections this year. Speakers agreed that it would be difficult for upstart campaigns to raise money for the primary elections, though they did suggest that unexpected newcomers, such as Republican Jack Abrams (who took stand against the war) could enter race at a later stage. Williams Frist predicted that Republican Fred Thompson, a good communicator, would be able to capture the public's imaginations and seize the opportunity to raise campaign funds.
The panelists were asked whether the United States is perceived as a "strong horse" or "a weak horse," and their answers varied. Arianna Huffington argued that the world sees the U.S. as a weak horse, much weaker than it was seen in September 2001. Poor foreign policy management, she said, "will probably have the greatest long-term impact of Bush administration."
Frist stressed that "in terms of well-functioning, transparent economy, we are strong." For instance, the U.S. still has a strong standing because of its actions in African countries. "Using health, education and clean water as a currency for peace" is a great approach, he said, and we should be doing the same in other areas of the world.
Mortimer Zuckerman stated that "soft power is clearly an area in which we′ve declined, particularly in the Middle East, and in every country in Europe."
How would candidates tackle the Bush administration′s handling of the war in Iraq? According to Kenneth Mehlman, "those in business know if you lay out a strategy and it doesn't work, you switch strategies." It helps changing strategies as you go, he added, and continuing "to go down a path that's not working" is not the best solution. "[We′re] going to try to create stable enough place where different groups of people can live," he said, "and, hopefully, eventually, they will want to live as one."
Mehlman also noted that the president needs to be honest about how long the war effort will take. "Until then," he warned, "public determination and willingness to stay the course will continue to wane."
Huffington agreed, saying that "ignoring mounting evidence that surge isn′t working, policy isn't working and staying this course, you're harming the country." That, she insisted, is why people are asking for the timetable. Panelists named Fred Thompson and Barack Obama as the party candidates most likely to win the 2008 elections.
Ailes asked the group if they thought if a ground war with radical Muslims could take place in the first two years of the next presidency. Most of the panelists believe that there was such a likelihood, though they noted that they didn't consider such a war "the end of civilization." Frist noted that America needs to recognize that the world is different today, and that the "greatest existential threat is a biological terrorism" -- a threat we are inadequately prepared to meet.
Returning to the topic of elections, Huffington noted that candidates must realize that presidential campaigns today are different from campaigns of the Nineties. Hillary Clinton's campaign is not inevitable and all-powerful, she said; the public is not content to sit through calculated statements and sound bytes. The Internet and bloggers play important campaign season roles, she said, noting that the blogosphere is "a kind of court of appeals." Mehlman added that Barack Obama has taken a campaign approach similar to that employed by Bobby Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, who "told what they perceived to be the truth, and people believed them." Candidates need to stop spending time on charts and tactics, start spending more time on thinking to be able to accomplish incredible things."
The panelists agreed that health care will remain as one of the important issues in the election campaign season. "Medicare tells much of story of unfunded liability over the next 75 years," said Frist. In the next 30 years, the number of seniors will double, but Medicare is expected to go bankrupt before Social Security does. Huffington warned that candidates must focus on providing preventive care and Medicare, without which we can not change the health-care crisis.
Global Conference 2013
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, philanthropist Bill Gates and Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless discuss advancing prosperity in Africa.
