Roughly a week ago, much hay was being made of Barack Obama’s lack of a “bounce” following Hillary’s exit stage left. While many polls at the time still showed Obama with some sort of lead, the closely watched Gallup Daily tracking poll showed him in what was effectively a statistical dead heat with John McCain. I somehow doubt we’ll see the same sources pointing to that poll today, as Gallup shows Obama returning to a five point lead.
After more than a week of Barack Obama and John McCain being tied in Gallup Poll Daily tracking, Obama now holds a statistically significant five percentage point lead in the preferences of national registered voters, 47% to 42%, slightly larger than Sunday’s 46% to 42% lead for Obama.
Could these sagging numbers have something to do with a return of America’s attention to foreign policy? (One area which cools me off regarding McCain and finds me leaning a bit more toward Obama or Bob Barr.) My more Right leaning friends are often enraged – and sometimes correctly so – by left wing Brit George Galloway. He’s already ruffling feathers with his recent statement that he’s off to Iran before Israel bombs it. There’s plenty of room for debate over many of Galloway’s talking points, but he certainly raises one poignant – and to many, uncomfortable – question about the Middle East. He’s talking about the open threats being made by Israel, if not the United States, to bomb Iran’s nuclear reactor facilities.
As a signatory to the treaty governing the development of nuclear weapons, Iran has done nothing wrong under it either, at least according to the watchdog maintained by the international community, the IAEA.
Israel, on the other hand, refuses to sign the nuclear weapons treaty and thus, with a chutzpah which takes the breath away, claims it’s not in breach of it.
I’m never sure if we’re supposed to talk about it openly, but the “secret” has long been out that Israel has nukes. This is at the heart of the question Galloway is asking. This situation looks as if it could be coming to a boil sooner rather than later, and the media is paying attention for a change. The consequences of Israel drawing us into another shooting war – this time with Iran – are likely a bit much for most of us to swallow. McCain’s aggressive stance on foreign policy is possibly one reason for his numbers drifting southward.
Will this automatically mean a boost for Obama across the board? Perhaps not. Newshogger’s own Ron Beasely, never a McCain supporter, seems to be finding himself more and more disenchanted with Obama and is now giving a fresh look at Bob Barr.
Maybe a third Bush term is what it will take. I may just sit this one out even if it means McCain wins.
In reality I may consider voting for Bob Barr. I disagree with the Libertarians on many issues but on what I consider the two most important issues they and Bob Barr are the only ones who get it right. The first of the issues is the occupation of Iraq but even more important is the erosion of civil liberties and the slide into a totalitarian state. If we continue to move in the direction of a Soviet style police state the other issues won’t really matter and Obama has given me no reason to trust him on this issue and I never did trust Hillary.
The “prevailing wisdom” keeps telling us that Bob Barr won’t make much of a splash this year. However, in our season of discontent for so many voters, Barr may start looking more and more appealing. He’s coming into the race far later than the major party candidates, but money spent in the last few months carries far more bang for your buck than that spent in 2007.