ARCS p. 153 #5

In an effort to examine liberal versus conservative views in today’s media, I examined two editorials that discuss presidential candidate Barac Obama and his standpoint in relation to the Iraqi war. The two articles, appearing in The American Spectator and The Nation offer opposing perspectives on Obama’s insistence that American troops should be pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible. The article in The American Spectator, titled “Obama, Iraq, and Reality,” expresses the opinion that Obama has not thoroughly considered the consequences of pulling out of the war. George H. Wittman, the author of the article, maintains that, “the Obama campaign has created a fictionalized Iraq political scene in which there are virtually no consequences to America leaving Iraq effectively on its own.” Bittman reasserts his stance by proclaiming, “The fact is that Obama and his left-wing, anti-war supporters want to get out of Iraq as soon as possible at any price.” Writing from a conservative point of view, Bittman believes that Obama’s intentions to end the war in the Middle East are unrealistic because the conflict between the Iraqi people is deep-rooted and cannot be resolved in a matter of months.

John Nichols expresses his opinions on Obama’s plans bring the war to an end in his article, “A Debate on Iraq Benefits Obama.” Nichols, who writes for The Nation, agrees with Wittman that the Iraqi war is a key issue in Obama’s campaign. However, Nichols adopts the view that Obama’s opinions about the Iraqi war benefit his campaign. Nichols explains how Obama emphasizes why it is essential to leave Iraq because of “the need to bring the conflict to a rapid conclusion in order to save more mothers from having to bury their sons and daughters.” Moreover, Nichols summarizes his positive views of Obama by stating, “Barack Obama debated as the man who won the Democratic nomination in large part because he had the wisdom to oppose launching an unnecessary preemptive war, and who scored points throughout the primary fight by promising to renew America's commitment to diplomacy.” By describing Obama as wise, Nichols asserts his belief that Obama has a reasonable and effective plan for ending conflict in Iraq.

While these two writers focus their articles on the same subject, they possess very different opinions about the quality and potential success of Barac Obama’s views on the Iraqi war. The article in the conservative paper, The American Spectator, is skeptic of Obama’s intentions for the future. Yet, the article appearing in the liberal paper, The Nation, examines Obama’s plans from a more positive perspective. While these differences may represent the personal opinions of the writers, they also likely reflect the differing ideologies among the liberal and conservative publication.