ARMENPAC Blog

Regardless of your personal party affiliation or which candidate you think would best serve our country in the White House, most people can agree that the 2008 election will provide this country with a different, and for the most part, welcomed change in national leadership.

I believe that the way a political party conducts itself during the Primary campaign is a good indicator of how that party will govern if elected to the majority in congress or into the White House.

Since announcing his bid for the nation’s highest office, John McCain has built a steady and continuously growing base of support that started in the early days when he trailed his Republican counterparts in the polls and has surged into what it is today. One would think that because of his legendary temper and adversarial nature, he would prove to be unpopular with party leadership. The fact is, despite the reservations of a few of the more conservative legislators, the party elders, fundraisers and rank-and-file political operatives have willingly coalesced behind the candidate.

While the Republican Primary was a good example of a party once divided coming together for the general good, the Democratic Primary is an illustration of shellfish Machiavellian tactics that put personal victory over the good of the country.

This bruising and embarrassing Democratic Primary had all the makings of a bad soap opera. Personal attacks by the candidates toward each other, name calling and insensitive remarks by campaign staff and heavy-handed behind-the-scenes threats to super delegates for support. Even today, with the party’s candidate no longer in question, some of Senator Clinton’s top strategists and fundraisers are holding out support for Senator Obama.

This type of win-at-all-costs campaigning leads on to the logical conclusion that when put in the most powerful office in the land, the Democratic inhabitant will use that very office to acquire personal and political power at the expense of the nation’s best interests. It seems to me by what we’ve seen so far, that a McCain presidency will bring the country a sense of calm and stability that is so desperately needed. Ironically, an Obama presidency will likely bring the unpredictable and embarrassing leadership infused with petty partisan politics that was exhibited during the Clinton years.