This is Holland Redfield; today our editorial department
is heading North into the thick of presidential
politics.
With Rudy Guliani & Mitt Romney in a virtual dead heat
in national polls on the Republican side and
Hillary Clinton in the lead with Barak Obama closing in;
so many times we get consumed by local politics
and fail to realize the importance of the national
presidential race and how it directly & indirectly
impacts
the Virgin Islands.
There is no question that this is compounded by the fact
that we don’t have a vote in that national race.
Many of us in the Virgin islands feel like we are
treated as second class citizens and that we are at a
sizable
disadvantage compared with state-side voters.
We support the right of the citizens of the Territories
to vote for the president but our present situation
makes it incumbent upon us to use whatever leverage we
have to move the Virgin Islands agenda forward.
With there being no incumbent candidate, we have a lot
more political clout than we think, the primary is
critical.
Our leverage in this 2008 presidential race lies in our
delegate votes and the ability of the Territories to
influence the selection of the standard bearers who will
represent the Democratic & Republican parties.
Clearly both party’s races for the presidency are going
to be tight and close; the campaign is still in the
early stages and political fortunes can change over
night.
It is essential that our local parties become engaged
with each of the presidential candidates to discuss
frankly the specific needs of the Virgin Islands such
as: the Return of Gasoline Excise Tax, our Inclusion in
the SSI Social Security program, a Greater Share of
MediCare/MediCaid Funding and securing Voting
Rights within CariCom to name several. Our support
should be based on a commitment from those
candidates to work on these important issues if elected.
Let’s not let these candidates take us for granted,
let’s make them work for our delegate votes, that’s what
good politics is all about.
For the Territories to get involved in floor fights at
the convention and not be unified beforehand puts us at
a substantial disadvantage.
Anybody running for the presidency from either party
wants solid commitments early; not being there
before the die is cast is not helping a candidate and is
a serious political miscalculation.
Whoever sits in the White House will directly impact the
Virgin Islands because much of the federal
funding coming into the Territory is discretionary; the
Executive Branch has a great deal to do with the
distribution of these resources.
The Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, The Northern
Marianas and Puerto Rico are similarly
situated politically. Now is the time to reach out to
the other Territories so that we can go to the
conventions and support one candidate and be in lockstep
with each other.
The real power is in delivering those delegate votes to
one candidate.
Let’s not sit back and be marginalized; the territories
have serious issues to deal with; a president that is in
our corner, one who understands our unique problems, can
really make a difference.