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The media like to guess which issue (singular) will dominate this year's presidential contest.
The reading is that the issues (plural) will be two, broadly speaking.
1. war
2. economy
With no justification for invasion, with no plan for occupation, with no goal in sight, the next president will need to find a way out of Iraq with honor while leaving behind a relatively stable government with a relatively sustainable peace on the ground.
The conclusion of the American misadventure in Iraq ought to be relatively quick and based on a political agreement with relatively broad-based diplomatic, humanitarian, and military support.
To start to enumerate the myriad problems within the USA is itself a Herculean task. But it is clear that the widespread dissastisfaction and discontent in the American twilight is based in economics.
The next president needs to immediately commence a program of revitalization to get America going. The type of correction needed in the American economy must again be broad-based. To say that the United States government is broken is probably an understatement.
That said, any correction must be based on adaptation, correction, and critique. Ideology needs to be set aside, and sensible reinvigoration of government is absolutely critical.
It's a huge task...to draw to a conclusion the mission in Iraq while simultaneously enacting a broad-based domestic reform agenda is huge. It is also necessary.
