Hmm...it's really too soon to tell--I'm not sure I have a clear enough understanding of where they each stand on various things beyond some fairly non action-specific views on the war in Iraq. On one hand, Obama may be good in this regard--he's a charismatic, intellegent, contemplative and peace-minded kind of guy...but then again, it's hard to know because we haven't heard/seen much beyond that he is against the war...doesn't tell us much about how he'd aim to resolve the conflict or what he really knows/understands about broader Middle East policy. Clinton I think understands a lot of the issues and regardless of what I may think of all her positions (again, we've not really heard them fleshed out yet so it's hard to say...), I think she understands that the political, culutral and religious aspects of Middle East relations are full of nuances. (Nuance is something the current administration doesn't seem to care about or understand at all.) She's also perhaps been closer to some of these issues in the past than other candidates. And the others...well, I really just don't know that I have a clear enough sense of what they know and where they stand. It should be interesting, though, to see how these many campaigns shape up!

I don't know yet either. I'm not super stoked about my choices at this point, even Barack. In all the speaches I've heard him make so far he seems to have a lot more of criticisms than solutions.