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McCain can't get a break
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jsteele
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Poor John McCain. Reality apparently supports Obama.
First, McCain goaded Obama into going to Iraq. So, Obama takes him up on the offer and has one of his most successful weeks of the campaign as the Iraqi Prime Minister endorses the Obama plan to withdraw from Iraq in 16 months. That pulled the rug out from under McCain and his 100 year plan. Then, McCain goes on CBS to attack Obama for not understanding that the surge created the current calm in Iraq. Unfortunately for McCain, the version of history he outlined -- the surge leading to the Sunni Awakening in Anbar province -- was the opposite of what really happened. The Awakening preceded the Surge by several months. McCain even said, "Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others." Unfortunately for McCain, and even more so for the sheik in question, the sheik was killed seven months after the surge began. So much for that protection. Then, McCain flip-flopped on off-shore drilling and became an ardent supporter of it. To counter Obama's speech in Germany and highlight his new position, McCain planned a speech on an oil rig off the shore of Louisiana. However, the combination of a hurricane and an oil leak near New Orleans has dashed his hopes. It just wouldn't due to stand on an oil rig being buffeted by hurricane-force winds while the Coast Guard struggles to contain spilt oil near by and proclaim the necessity of expanding off-shore drilling. Poor guy can't catch a break. |
Anonymous
| Bet your bottom dollar the Iraqi prime minister doesn't want us gone in 16 months. He's just saying that because there's an election coming up and it's the politically expedient thing to say. |
jsteele
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I'll take that bet. The new Iraqi army is dominated by Shia loyal to the Prime Minister. The US is funding the Sunni Awakening groups which oppose the current government and trying to force Maliki to compromise with them. If the US pulls out, it weakens Maliki's most dangerous enemies. In such a strong position, Maliki doesn't have to worry about negotiating the distribution of oil revenues -- he'll simply give them all to the Shia. Maliki's motivation is not nationalism, but money and power. |
Rich
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You may be right, but the unavoidable implication of your statement is that the people of Iraq want us out. And, since we have set up a democracy there, whether we like it or not, the people will decide. |
Anonymous
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I'm not so sure about that. As John Burns in the New York Times has said (in March 2008), "They are hopes shared by many ordinary Iraqis. Opinion polls, including those commissioned by the American command, have long suggested that a majority of Iraqis would like American troops withdrawn, but another lesson to be drawn from Saddam Hussein’s years is that any attempt to measure opinion in Iraq is fatally skewed by intimidation. More often than not, people tell pollsters and reporters what they think is safe, not necessarily what they believe. My own experience, invariably, was that Iraqis I met who felt secure enough to speak with candor had an overwhelming desire to see American troops remain long enough to restore stability."
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Anonymous
| That's March of this year. I don't understand how to turn off the emoticons. |
Rich
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That's a major problem, especially for politicians -- think of Muskie's tears or Dean's scream! 
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Rich
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| The McCain campaign refers to Obama as The One. After ther recent attack ads that accuse Obama of causing the high gas prices and of not caring about our troops, I dub McCain The Negative One. |
jsteele
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I call him Grandpa Simpson because he reminds me of Bart's grandfather. |
Anonymous
Thanks for the laugh. 
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