Republicans must be jubilant, recalling that the votes he took from Al Gore in the 2000 campaign in the State of Florida gave George W. Bush the presidency by 537 votes.

Democrats must be livid, recalling that the votes he took from Al Gore in the 2000 campaign in the State of Florida gave George W. Bush the presidency by 537 votes.

Are we repeating ourselves? It must be the Groundhog Day effect.

So how would a Nader presidency affect the Middle East peace talks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the fight against international terrorism spearheaded by Islamist fanatics? Not that the four-time loser really stands much of a chance to even make it past the White House visitor's center.

The short answer would be: disaster for the Arabs, disaster for Israel, and even more damaging for American prestige around the world, if that is at all possible. Nader's forte has always been consumer rights and the environment – two fields in which he excelled, but not foreign affairs.

Next November's presidential election is going to be one of thee most important elections for the United States, where the next president is going to have to make some very tough calls in domestic as well as in international policies. But because U.S. policies impact much of the rest of the world, who gets to sit in the Oval Office is just as important to the citizen of Baghdad, as it is to the resident of Bangor, Maine.

The following sampling lists just a few of the most pressing items the next president will find she/he will have to deal with within hours of taking the vote of office:

-- Iran and its nuclear proliferation

-- the war in Iraq

-- the war in Afghanistan

-- the war on terrorists

-- the Israeli-Palestinian dispute

-- Syria, sanctions and the crisis in Lebanon

-- Turkey and the Kurdish question

And those are only in the Middle East. Is Ralph Nader really up to the task? One would like to think that the voters who gave their voices to Nader in 2000 have learned their lesson that a vote for Nader not only weakens the Democratic Party, but is the equivalent of throwing a vote away, and that they will not repeat the exercise in 2008. But then again, how many tries did it take Bill Murray to eventually get it right?