Jessica

Vozel

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February 11, 2008

Think It’s Rough for McCain, Clinton and Obama? Take a Look at Pakistan

This election year in the United States has been, and will continue to be, an eventful one. We are just a month-and-a-half into 2008, and already we’re witness to an exciting dead heat battle between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, all packaged within the wrappings of “identity politics.” This is to be expected with the historic bid that promises, for the first time, a Democratic nominee that will not be a white male. We’ve watched as the underdog, John McCain, became the front-runner and a couple suspected front-runners, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, fell out of favor and out of the race. We’ve also seen Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister who plays the bass guitar, be taken seriously by the voting public. 

Yes, pundits in 2008 have had a lot to talk about, and complain about. The remarks lodged against Sen. Clinton evidence that, to use her words, “the remnants of sexism are alive and well.”  Then there is the vitriol McCain is now receiving from even conservative personalities like Ann Coulter, who made the most tired of analogies at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, saying “I'm not comparing McCain to Hitler. Hitler had a coherent tax policy.” She also, for the record, said of Clinton: “I'm not equating Hillary Clinton to Stalin, and if I did I apologize to Stalin's descendents.” Oh, Ann, you’re so clever!

All of this election drama, however, seems rather silly when compared to what Pakistan is currently going through as it attempts to hold a parliamentary election this month. At a recent political rally held by the secular Awami National Party, which advocates against Islamist political parties, a suicide bomb left 25 dead and dozens wounded. At a party gathering of just 200 people in a private residence, which was assumed to be safe, the bomb was detonated as a party member read from Islam’s holy text, the Qaran. Several of those wounded and killed were children. 

This followed the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister and leading opposition candidate in the election, on December 27. After a 40-day mourning period following Bhutto’s death, Pakistani candidates are just beginning to campaign again, including the Pakistan People’s Party, of which Bhutto was a part. The PPP held a rally on the same day as the Awami rally, with 100,000 undeterred supporters listening to Bhutto’s husband speak of his duty to rescue the country from the rule of President Pervez Musharraf. 

Although the candidates face challenges as they run for president, including a potentially dangerous hostage situation for Clinton in late November, none has to have more than a general caution as they campaign across the country. In Pakistan, the threat of violence and assassination is a much more tangible concern for the candidates, and for party advocates as well. 

If there is any small benefit of this violence in Pakistan, it is the knowledge that the candidates must have an intrinsic love for their country that goes beyond empty words. They risk their lives every day to lead it. This is not to say that American presidential candidates don’t love America, but it is easier to distrust their motivations when they are safeguarded by security guards and the knowledge that Americans channel their dislike into words, not bombs. 

By the same token, liberals complain about the dogmatism of religious conservatives in America, but although such groups have unprecedented pull in this election, they are not detonating suicide bombs at political rallies. There have certainly been instances of violence in the name of religion – for example, bombs and gunshots in abortion clinics. But these rare instances cannot be compared to the daily threat of violence by Islamic extremists in the Middle East. 

Surely, this comparison between Pakistan’s daily, election-related violence and our rather tame race makes Ann Coulter’s over-dramatic statements seem even sillier. No, McCain is not like Hitler and Clinton is not like Stalin. In fact, we live in a country free of blood-thirsty dictatorship, and to suggest otherwise doesn’t do justice to just how fortunate we are. However, if such asinine comments are all the candidates have to face in the upcoming months of this election, they should consider themselves lucky.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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