Scylla and Charybdis

Why the war in Iraq is a major problem for Republican front runners

According to a Pollingreport.com poll, 66% of Americans think that President Bush is not handling the Iraq war in the right manner. One would think that that would be reason enough for someone with presidential ambitions for 2008 not to take the Bush administration’s stance on the war. However, on April 11, John McCain reiterated his support of Bush’s handling of the war once more, stating that “it is the right road. It is necessary and just.".
According to the New York Times, “both [Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani] are supportive of the war and of the recent troop increase designed to bring Baghdad under control, but have not been nearly as muscular in their defense of the policy as Mr. McCain has been.”

Why do the Republicans choose such an unpopular stance with a large portion of the population? One possibility is, of course, that this is what they firmly believe in. Another possible answer has to do with the way the US presidential election system is set up.

Before they can even dream about competing in the general election, the Republican candidates have to win the primaries. There, they have to woo the core of the Republican party – of which 64% think that things in Iraq are going well.

This puts the candidates into a precarious situation – similar to the classical Scylla and Charybdis dilemma, there seems to be no right stance for them to take when it comes to the war in Iraq, because both will lead to likely defeat. If they support the war, they will have trouble getting the necessary votes in 2008; however, if they remove themselves too far from the administration, they will never get the chance to compete in the national election.