In the next election

[justinsb]

which do you think will be most important

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. I guess I have to be the fly in the ointment.

In this day and age I don't see how they can be separated, at least in terms of importance. Not personally anyway. I have no idea what the national pulse will be directed towards.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. Can't vote because BOTH will need MAJOR REPAIRS

:(

[justinsb]

4. I understand that they both need repairs

I'm just trying to take a temperature, if you will, because elections are generally won on one or the other but rarely on both. The reality is that even if Bush was impeached and there was an Iraq pullout tomorrow that would not be the end of the problem(s). For every orphan, widow or widower in Iraq there is someone with a grudge - trade stimulates the economy but trade will be difficult if people keep blowing up your stuff.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

5. The neocon damage internationally & the theocratic damage domestically

Are just too hard for me to decide which needs more repair. Hey, FDR could attack both the domestic problems and the international challenges...we need someone like that with a 2-prong approach of repair.

IMHO

[napi21]

3. Domestic policy. I don't think foreign policy is off the agenda,

but many people are now feeling the results of Shrubs policies and they're not happy!

[BlueIris]

6. I still think Americans will selfishly be thinking about their needs

at home, rather than what our foreign policies have do to the world.

[justinsb]

8. If so, I hope it's not too selfish

or it will backfire in a big way. If the US simply up and left Iraq and Afghanistan today it would be far from the end of the problem. The US has a tiger by the tail and it's going to be a generation or two (at best) before the wars Bush started are really over.

[dhinojosa]

7. Are you talking '06 or '08? nt

[justinsb]

9. Either really - just guaging

what people are more concerned about.

[Crunchy Frog]

10. I think they will both be important,

and that you can't really have one without the other the way the world is now.

We may wish that the war would just go away, or that we could ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist, but we have to face the fact that a multi-hundred billion dollar war is going to severely cut it to any resources we might have to deal with domestic issues.

I also believe that if the American people feel threatened, they will vote for whomever makes them feel safer, even if it means voting against their economic interests. The Democratic party has to persuade voters that it is the better party for keeping Americans safe in a potentially threatening world. This means seriously addressing foreign policy issues. Our party generally already does a fairly good job of addressing domestic issues, though I think we need to move away from corporatism and seriously address issues of concern to ordinary working Americans.

Sorry for the overly long answer.