The political pundits often talk about how this is an election unlike any other.
You have to forgive them. Sometimes media experts only remember history that occured a few days ago.
The fact is, the 2008 election is similar to another election year: 1968.
In 1968 the United States was involved in a war that had become increasingly unpopular and led by a man who told us to stay the course because "there is light at the end of the tunnel."
The country was divided by race, and people began to wonder what the future held for the United States.
Like 1968, the United States in 2008 is involved in a war that we're not sure we can win without a large military expansion, and there are those who feel the country is on the wrong track.
Just as there are similarities between the issues between 1968 and 2008, there are similarities between the candidates who ran for president then and the people who are running now.
John McCain is playing the role of Richard Nixon, a supporter of an unpopular war who wants the United States to find an "honorable" way to exit without making it look as if we're simply pulling out the troops.
Like Nixon, McCain is a veteran of a presidential election eight years ago and now has come back for another try.
Playing the role of Hubert Humphrey, the nominee of the establishment who supported the war at its beginning, is New York Senator Hillary Clinton.
Clinton is the choice of the establishment politicians, just as Humphrey had the support of President Lyndon Johnson and the big city bosses.
Playing a dual role in the 2008 campaign is Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
Like Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Obama has caught the attention of younger voters who are fed up with the status quo, fed up with the war and excited by the prospect of changing the future.
But McCarthy didn't win the Democratic Party's nomination in Chicago in 1968.
Humphrey did. He won it with the support of the establishment politicians, the "superdelegates" you could say.
Obama also has been compared to Robert Kennedy.
By 1968, Kennedy was the one politician many people thought could unite the country. He was against the war, he told people the United States "could do better" and he won primary races in states such as Kansas, South Dakota and Indiana. Not many people thought he would win in those states, but he did.
Like Obama, Kennedy had the support of younger voters.
But Kennedy's campaign was cut short when he was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968.
With the nomination process still a few weeks off anything can happen, and 2008 may not end up looking like 1968 after all.
We'll just have to wait and see.
- Brian Gray is a reporter at The MonroeTimes. He can be reached at bgray@themonroetimes.com.
You have to forgive them. Sometimes media experts only remember history that occured a few days ago.
The fact is, the 2008 election is similar to another election year: 1968.
In 1968 the United States was involved in a war that had become increasingly unpopular and led by a man who told us to stay the course because "there is light at the end of the tunnel."
The country was divided by race, and people began to wonder what the future held for the United States.
Like 1968, the United States in 2008 is involved in a war that we're not sure we can win without a large military expansion, and there are those who feel the country is on the wrong track.
Just as there are similarities between the issues between 1968 and 2008, there are similarities between the candidates who ran for president then and the people who are running now.
John McCain is playing the role of Richard Nixon, a supporter of an unpopular war who wants the United States to find an "honorable" way to exit without making it look as if we're simply pulling out the troops.
Like Nixon, McCain is a veteran of a presidential election eight years ago and now has come back for another try.
Playing the role of Hubert Humphrey, the nominee of the establishment who supported the war at its beginning, is New York Senator Hillary Clinton.
Clinton is the choice of the establishment politicians, just as Humphrey had the support of President Lyndon Johnson and the big city bosses.
Playing a dual role in the 2008 campaign is Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
Like Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Obama has caught the attention of younger voters who are fed up with the status quo, fed up with the war and excited by the prospect of changing the future.
But McCarthy didn't win the Democratic Party's nomination in Chicago in 1968.
Humphrey did. He won it with the support of the establishment politicians, the "superdelegates" you could say.
Obama also has been compared to Robert Kennedy.
By 1968, Kennedy was the one politician many people thought could unite the country. He was against the war, he told people the United States "could do better" and he won primary races in states such as Kansas, South Dakota and Indiana. Not many people thought he would win in those states, but he did.
Like Obama, Kennedy had the support of younger voters.
But Kennedy's campaign was cut short when he was assassinated in Los Angeles in June 1968.
With the nomination process still a few weeks off anything can happen, and 2008 may not end up looking like 1968 after all.
We'll just have to wait and see.
- Brian Gray is a reporter at The MonroeTimes. He can be reached at bgray@themonroetimes.com.
