The ‘commander in chief’ has two more years of dictatorial rein before he is finally ousted, but that hasn’t impeded campaign season from prematurely kicking off.

Although the volatile nature of politics makes it too early for predictions, this high-stake election deserves particular attention. If partisan preference, race, gender or ethnicity are the determining factors in the 2008 presidential race, make no mistake, this country is finished. Damage control for the next president is not limited to Iraq and Afghanistan; there is a devastated economy, trillions in national debt, escalating national inflation, a warming planet, Middle Eastern oil dependence, insufficient investment in alternative energies, needed immigration reform and the issue of unstable regimes acquiring nuclear weapons.

Many Republicans are praying Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination so they have a competing chance at the White House. Right now, according to 2006 Gallup poll surveys, 33 states are leaning Democrat, six leaning Republican and 10 competitive. Over the past three years, Republicans lost their advantage in 14 states and continue to lose support as the number of self-identified independents continues to rise. In light of this trend and the foreseeable damage that will accrue over the next two years while Bush remains in office, even modest figures don’t give Republicans optimism for a comeback.

An obvious difficulty for the political right is its inability to criticize the current administration on the most important issue of this race ‘ Iraq. Between 60 and 70 percent of Americans (depending on the poll and how questions were framed) oppose the war and support something along the lines of a phased withdrawal. These voters will not elect a candidate spouting the same rhetoric as the president, whom they oppose. That leaves 30 to 40 percent of Americans, most of which come from the conservative evangelical block. However, conservatives are beginning to distance themselves from the Republican base as well, as seen by the 70 to 30 voter split in the 2006 congressional elections, which analysts attribute to evangelical disgust with incessant corruption and carefree congressional spending.

Thus, Republican ’08 candidates face quite the predicament: They must appeal to their evangelical base by propagating the group’s moral ideology on key issues like abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage. Lead GOP presidential front-runners Rudy Giuliani and John McCain have been tagged flip-flop or liberal-Republican for doing just this. Giuliani in particular is having trouble explaining away his pro-choice and pro-gay rights past. Fortunately for Democrats, many evangelicals view these sudden epiphanies about the ‘sanctity of life’ and the ‘sanctity of marriage’ as political stunts that reveal a value system that can be sold to the highest bidder, which is not something that they look at fondly.

With a very small pool of secure voters, Republicans are waging their Barack Obama card will be a straight flush. This is the strategic agenda of the right as I see it: Use the media to help make Obama a ‘rock star’ candidate. Halt criticism or ‘smear campaigns’ until he wins the democratic primaries and then defeat him in the general election on grounds of race, inexperience and his ethnic background.

Evidence that race will become an issue can be seen in the 2006 Tennessee Senate run. Herald Ford, an attractive blue-eyed light skin African American, lost by a slim margin of 48-51 to Republican Bob Corker. Ford had a 7-9 point lead in polls one month before elections, until Corker used ‘race-baiting’ tactics to court white Southern votes.

Obama’s lack of experience in the Senate (only two years) will also be used against him. It is a fact, indeed, that Obama has less experience than any other candidate does AND any president in U.S. history. But the overarching criticism that will be waged against Barack HUSSEIN Obama is his Muslim background. From ages 6 through 10, while Barack was living with his Muslim stepfather in Indonesia, he attended a Madrassa, a Muslim school allegedly financed by Saudi Arabia that teaches radical Wahhabism.

Even though Obama does not profess to be a practicing Muslim at this time, this underreported fact will swarm headlines in due time. Since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has used ‘fear mongering’ to justify waging illegitimate wars in the Middle East. A consequence of this is that ‘terrorist’ has become synonymous with Islam and Muslim, creating an irrational climate of generalized fear, apprehension and strong disdain for Muslims in general. Regardless of whether Obama should be ostracized for this, he will be. What is worse is what will happen to this country if Americans elects a Republican to the White House out of fear and unease with the alternative.