US Democratic presidential candidates should state foreign policy stance

FOR the last three years, Democratic Party lawmakers and activists have been engaged in a determined political campaign of "resistance" against President Donald Trump, his personal conduct and his policies.

The main focus of their efforts has been to convince Americans that the current White House occupant is unfit to lead the nation, that his behavior threatens basic democratic principles, and that his policies are driven by xenophobia and bigotry. For a while, the hope among many Democrats was that the results of the probe into the ties between the Russian government and the Trump presidential campaign would create the conditions for the impeachment and the ensuing ouster of President Trump from office - which at this stage does not seem like a realistic scenario.

That means that if the Democrats want to ensure that President Trump is not re-elected, especially at a time when a growing economy favours the incumbent, they have to demonstrate to Americans that their presidential candidate represents an alternative and more than viable policy agenda. Unfortunately, after a series of televised presidential debates (and with two more this week), the leading Democratic presidential candidates have yet to introduce a coherent set of policies that could entice a majority of Americans to put them in the White House.