By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : The assassination of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto has unexpectedly injected a new element into the US presidential race with media speculating how it would affect the candidates’ chances.
Terrorism which had somewhat receded into the background with reduced violence in Iraq came to the fore again with the presidential hopefuls on either side of the political divide quickly coming up with their positions on how they would tackle the menace.
A “profoundly saddened and outraged” Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said, “It certainly raises the stakes high for what we expect from our next president. I know from a lifetime of working to make change.”
As her party rival Barack Obama said he stood with the Pakistani people “in their quest for democracy and against the terrorists who threaten the common security of the world,” an aide drew attention to their differing stands on the Iraq war.
While Clinton had extended initial support for the US invasion of Iraq “Barack Obama had the judgment to oppose the war in Iraq, and he warned at the time it would divert us from Afghanistan and Al Qaeda, and now we see the effect of that,” Obama adviser David Axelrod said.
Other candidates were also quick to react. John Edwards, Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 2004, said he spoke with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by phone, telling him “to continue on the path to democratisation and to allow international investigators to come in to determine what happened.”
“The important thing for America to do in this unstable environment is first of all focus on the tragedy that’s occurred,” he said.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was the only candidate to call for Musharraf to step down – a suggestion that brought quick criticism from Senator Joe Biden, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
“It’s so wildly irresponsible that it can’t go unchallenged,” Biden spokesman Larry Rasky said of Richardson’s statement. “Asking Musharraf to step aside now would leave a huge power vacuum at a time of crisis in Pakistan. It’s the last thing we need until we know what really happened and who’s responsible.”
On the Republican side, Senator John McCain who had lost the 2000 party nomination bid to President George Bush, said the “winners” in the “tragic” assassination of Bhutto are the “radical Islamic extremists.”
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said: “Pakistan has long been a key part in the war against extremism and radical jihadists. For those who think Iraq is the sole front in the War on Terror, one must look no further than what has happened today.
“America must show its commitment to stand with all moderate forces across the Islamic world and together face the defining challenge of our generation – the struggle against violent, radical jihadists,” he said.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who has quickly risen to the front ranks of the Republicans inadvertently drew attention to his lack of foreign policy experience by questioning whether martial law should be continued in Pakistan.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who earned the epithet of ‘America’s Mayor’ for his work after the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, said Bhutto’s assassination “is a reminder that terrorism anywhere – whether in New York, London, Tel Aviv or Rawalpindi – is an enemy of freedom. We must redouble our efforts to win the Terrorists’ War on Us.”
Shortly before the Bhutto news broke, Giuliani’s campaign released an ad laden with Sep 11 imagery and warning Islamic terrorists: “You try and come here and kill our people; we’re one, and we’re going to stand up to you, and we’re going to prevail.”
The ultimate impact of Bhutto’s death on the upcoming caucuses and primaries, where the state units of the parties indicate their preferences for a candidate, may be difficult to gauge but it came as a test of the presidential hopefuls in dealing with the unexpected.