Larry J. Sabato’s CRYSTAL BALL:
The Israeli-Hezbollah war in the Middle East has become this summer’s obsession, and rightly so. The dangers of a wider war are ever present, and no story is equal to the misery of armed conflict in the world’s tinderbox.
Nonetheless, one wishes that the television media could walk and chew gum simultaneously. Loads of important stories, like trees falling in the forest, are making no sound because they are not recorded. The bloodshed in Iraq is worse than ever; if this isn’t a civil war now raging there, it’s a good imitation. On the home front, President Bush’s first veto of a critical stem-cell research bill and his first White House appearance at an NAACP convention were barely one-day stories–major political events that got short shrift and deserved better.
It’s the same with the 2006 midterm elections, which have essentially fallen off the radar screen for the time being (and this might be a lengthy war). However, the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is having, and will continue to have, an impact on the midterms in several ways…
Today’s Sabato email includes another interesting article:
Civic Engagement and the Mideast Cauldron
A recent trip to Israel–which concluded just before the outbreak of war between Israel and Lebanon–offered some lessons on civic engagement that Americans would be wise to learn….