Obama Says No to Joint Iraq Trip
According to this post at TPM, Barack Obama has turned down John McCain’s offer of going on a joint trip to Iraq. Here’s the Obama campaign’s official explanation:
“John McCain’s proposal is nothing more than a political stunt, and we don’t need any more ‘Mission Accomplished’ banners or walks through Baghdad markets to know that Iraq’s leaders have not made the political progress that was the stated purpose of the surge. The American people don’t want any more false promises of progress, they deserve a real debate about a war that has overstretched our military, and cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without making us safer.”
Sen. Obama has essentially accused Sen. McCain of grandstanding on this life and death issue. I’d doubt that anyone would believe that Sen. McCain is capable of grandstanding on this important of an issue. The biggest thing that Sen. McCain has going for him is his reputation of being an honorable man, especially when it comes to military matters.
I’d further suggest that Sen. Obama’s statement smacks of extreme arrogance. Notice the certitude with which Sen. Obama says that we aren’t safer as a result of the war. That’s pretty extraordinary considering the fact that he hasn’t visited Iraq since he started preparing for his run at the presidency. How does he know that Iraq isn’t better off now that the surge has changed the landscape? Does SEn. Obama think that the Anbar Awakening is a figment of Sen. McCain’s imagination? Does Sen. Obama think that the Maliki government meeting 12 of the 18 benchmarks isn’t significant?
Sen. Obama’s credibility will take a beating because he speaks with such certitude. People might’ve given him the benefit of the doubt if he’d recently visited Iraq. If there’s anything that the American people don’t like, it’s a know-it-all who hasn’t done his homework. If Sen. Obama wants to speak with such certitude, he’d better know everything there is to know about the subject.
Voters will be merciless if they think that Sen. Obama speaks with certainty without doing his homework. There’s an adjective for people like that. That adjective is haughty, which, not so coincidentally, is the word people used to describe John Kerry.
Technorati Tags: Obama, John McCain, Iraq War, Anbar Awakening, John Kerry, Arrogance, National Security, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
May 29th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Except, Obama said ‘yes’ to a trip to Iraq and has been planning one for weeks.
He just said ‘no’ to a joint trip with McCain.
May 30th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Well, duh!
If he goes with McCain, he’ll look like a dufus.
If he goes by himself he’ll be able to set in the mess tent, drink coffee, and listen to horror stories about how bad it still is.
Its politics!