Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Today show: McCain states that Obama doesn't understand Iraq

I do not need to go to Iraq to understand that Kurds, Sunnis and Shia don't like sharing the region. Just as you don't have to go to Watts (Los Angeles) to know that it is an extremely dangerous neighborhood. I also don't need to go to Iraq to understand that it was a mistake to invade that country in the first place. So, I really don't follow John McCain's reasoning. He has been arguing for months that Obama has to go to Iraq to understand the situation. Briefings and newspaper reports are worthless in John McCain's world.

So, Barack Obama goes to Iraq and Afghanistan. It appears that Senator Obama does know what he is talking about after all. Maliki has clearly stated that the position of the Iraqi government is to have US troops out of their country by 2010. Wow. 2010. That sounds a lot like what Barack Obama has said. John McCain is now stuck. He has taken Bush's position which never made any sense to anyone who wasn't an insecure neocon.

From HuffPost: "Prime Minister Maliki is the leader of a country and I'm confident he will act as the President and the Foreign Minister both told me in the last several days," said the presumptive Republican nominee. "It will be directly related to the situation on the ground -- just as they have always said. And since we are succeeding, I am convinced, as I have said before, we will withdraw with honor, not according to a set timetable."


McCain has only a couple of positions as I see it -
1) He can state that the Iraqis really don't know what's going on. The US, like a protective mother, knows best. I just don't see this going over with anybody.
2) McCain can try and play this with a little body-English and say that the US wants to withdraw as soon as possible. We agree that the end of 2010 is a goal if conditions on the ground support that goal. This is somewhat transparent but it may be the best option that McCain has.
3) Senator McCain can pressure Admiral Mullen and General David Petraeus to say that conditions on the ground have improved enough to push a complete and total withdraw by the end of 2010. This is almost laughable since Petraeus hasn't come close to saying anything like this but it may have merit since McCain and Bush have held up Petraeus as all knowledgeable.

Actually, all 3 of those positions are very lame but that is the best that John McCain can do. He has painted himself into this corner. It is hard to see any easy way out.

Watch John McCain struggle through this interview on Iraq policy on the Today Show.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey EC,

McCain's candidacy in general disturbs me. I mean, the man simply is not very bright. He once claimed he was tricked into supporting legislation that he didn't understand. Whatever formal education he received was marred by his frat boy persona. He clearly can't fly a plane without crashing it. He's gone on the record indicating that he has zero knowledge about economic matters. He doesn't seem to know his geography. The guy is just plumb dumb.

Given his history, his education and his own words we should all take a long look at McCain and decide if this is a man who's intelligent enough to be President. Anybody who stands to rob Dubya of the crown of the "World's Dumbest Politician" shouldn't be in the running to win the office of the POTUS.

Truthiz said...

Unmitigatedword:

"Given his history, his education and his own words we should all take a long look at McCain and decide if this is a man who's intelligent enough to be President."

Welp!...I've taken a long look_okay so a long long wasn't really necessary to size up Ole Johnnie McBush.

And I absolutely AGREE, it is most disturbing!

The man:

1. knows NOTHING about economics in good times OR bad.

2. knows next to NOTHING about foreign policy OR geography.

3. graduated near the BOTTOM of his class at the Naval Academy.

3. has a long history of "angry" outbursts, going back to childhood.

4. crashed SEVERAL fighter-jets prior to being shot down over Vietnam.

5. tried to commit SUICIDE as a POW, after being shot down.

6. never met a WAR or a neoCON he didn't like.

The list goes on and on...

And yet, he's the "best" the GOP has to offer _which say a lot about the Republican Party!