National Identity

Our nation is “divided”. President Bush’s term in office has left the United States with many questions. Who will answer them? More importantly, who will the nation choose to try and answer them?
The theme of each of the three remaining candidates seems to be uniting America. But who can unite America? I was watching “The Daily Show” (very academic) and John Stewart asked someone about if a Democrat can unite America? I thought this was an important question. Because if Obama or Clinton is elected into office, will he/she be able to bring the far right to the middle?
It is still early in the process, because the Democratic Party is still far from being united. I feel that this is one of the biggest advantages that John McCain has right now. The Republican Party was not exactly together during his rise to the top, but it seems he now is in complete control of his party. I think that will be the most important piece to a successful democratic run for office. The winning candidate will have to make an outstanding effort to gain the support of the sway Clinton or Obama “losers”.
The “unity” themes of the two parties are different. Obama (of course) speaks of uniting our nation through “change” and peace. Clinton offers much of a similar theme. However, McCain offers a slightly different them to “unity”. Uniting through fixing the war, fixing the country, and an attempt to change partisanship. McCain’s ads and the one we watched in class give this reflection on American past and vision of the American future. Mainly through pictures of him in Vietnam, past presidents, and visions of WWII. Obama has used many images of the past when “change” was used to make a better America.
Both will continue to build this National Identity of unity and bringing together our nation. The first task though for Obama (or Clinton) is to bring together their party before they can bring together America.