Foreign Policy

With the first debate set to start in a little under an hour, here's a preview of what is on tap for tonight. The topic is foreign policy, although Jim Lehrer has said he'll ask questions about the economy. There are so good overviews on the web so I'll spare a recap of those.

Here is what I am curious about.

• The war on Iraq - how will recent developments (an election law was finally passed) play out? How will this war be defended as part of the larger war on terror, or will it? Will the candidates discuss ideas of spreading our military too thin?
• Iran - How will Obama defend meeting with Iranian leaders without preconditions? How will McCain respond? Note: I think I'm more curious if we'll see any surprises on this topic.
• Israel - How will recent comments about not second guessing Israel's efforts to defend themselves play out, especially considering the potential ripple effects throughout the Middle East with such action.
• North Korea - the wild card? especially now that they've kicked out nuclear inspectors?
• Russia - the sleeping giant is waking back up, what will be the new relationship between the US and the Russian Bear? Will McCain mention that Sarah Palin is the executive of a state that borders Russia?
• Trade agreements - will this come up? If so, how will McCain balance free market ideology with populist rhetoric? I suppose a similar question could be asked for Obama?
• Globalization - will it come up? How will the candidates define it and how will they position America within it?
• Pre-emptive war - How will this be defined (especially in relation to Bush's ideas) and what will their positions be.
  
• Last but not least, the financial crisis (crater). Can McCain recover on this one? Will anyone provide (or at least appear to) a solution on this one?
  

While I've never been a huge fan of the debate formats for Presidential elections, I have to admit I like the format for tonight's debate a lot more. A full nine minutes will be given to each issue. Each candidate will have two minutes to respond followed by five minutes where they are allowed to ask each other questions.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95059878&ft=1&f=1012