In July 2007, pollsters for the New York Times and CBS News asked respondents to name the issues most important to them as they considered which candidate they would support for president. The top choice for both Republicans and Democrats was national security--Iraq for Democrats, terrorism for Republicans.
That was then. Today national security has virtually disappeared from the presidential campaign. In a New York Times/CBS poll taken in mid-October, 57 percent of respondents cited the economy as their top issue. Only 9 percent cited terrorism, and 7 percent cited the Iraq war.
These results are hardly surprising. The housing market is in tatters, a Republican administration is aggressively defending its decision to partially nationalize America's biggest banks, and nearly every economist in the prognostication business is saying that the United States is heading toward a severe recession.
But the shift remains stunning. For seven years, the country has been obsessed with national security. The New York Times carried more extensive coverage of the Iraqi elections in 2005 than statewide contests in the United States. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad became a household name. So did David Petraeus. And as late as this spring, national security issues helped decide the nominees of both political parties. Barack Obama won, in no small part, because primary voters believed that he was more sincerely antiwar than the other Democrats running, especially Hillary Clinton. And John McCain won largely because voters believed he would be a better commander in chief than his Republican counterparts.
Judging from his remarks to
an enthusiastic crowd in Dallas, Texas, on the March night he passed the 1,191 delegate mark needed to make him the GOP nominee, McCain expected--or, perhaps, hoped--that national security issues would play a major role in determining the next president. After thanking his supporters and speaking broadly about public service, McCain moved right to national security.
Presidential candidates are judged on their records, their character and the whole of their life experiences. But we are also expected to concentrate our efforts on the challenges that will confront America on our watch and explain how we intend to address them. America is at war in two countries, and involved in a long and difficult fight with violent extremists who despise us, our values and modernity itself.
McCain defended the decision to remove Saddam Hussein and spoke of the need to win in Iraq, where "our most vital security interests" are involved. He said that a mismanaged exit could result in sectarian conflict, even genocide. He warned about terrorist attacks with "weapons we dare not allow" terrorists to possess and called for a stronger allied effort against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
He was not finished.
The next president must lead an effort to restructure our military, our intelligence, our diplomacy and all relevant branches of government to combat Islamic extremism, encourage the vast majority of moderates to win the battle for the soul of Islam, and meet the many other rising challenges in this changing world.
McCain did mention the economy and health care and jobs. But it was clear then that he saw a president's duties as commander in chief as more important than any other role.
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