Needless to say, here in the U.S., it has been a very bad week for Senator John McCain, in his bid to be President. His proclamation, that he has made in the past, regarding, the question, of when the American troops would come home from Iraq, where he said, it really didn't matter, as long as the casualities were down, which is really uncontrollable, in my humble opinion, has been a bit undercut. His position as well as the Bush administration's position, which is to stay until..., has been underminded by President Maliki of Iraq, who gave an interview to a magazine, in which he said he was basically very open
to the idea of the Americn troops leaving Iraq, in 16 months or roughly by 2010, which ties up very neatly with Senator Obama's position on troop withdrawal. It was apparent that the White House, toubled by the comments of Maliki, called and asked for a correction of sorts, that he did not mean it, did not say it or whatever, as it did not fit with the current Republican stance on the war in Iraq. President Maliki quickly put out a statement, that he was either
misquoted or there was an error in the translation, of what he said, he also made mention of the fact that he was not endorsing Obama. Now if he was misquoted, why was it necessary to say that he was not endorsing Senator Obama. Can't have one without the other, yes? Then another Iraqi official came forth and said, the Iraqis definitely wanted the troops out by 2010, not having anything to do with the American presidential campaign, but having to do with the people of Iraq. Got that. This puts President Bush and John McCain in a box by themselves, the Iraqi people want the troops out, the Iraqi soverign government wants them out, as well as President Maliki. Senator Obama wants to bring them home also. Senator McCain and President Bush had previously said that if the Iraqi government wanted the troops out, they would have to leave. But now it's going to be, not until the Bush administration say they can leave, sounds like double talk to me.
Then there is Senator McCain, continuously making mistakes on foreign affairs, which is supposed to be his strong suit, like calling countries by names that have long since been changed, to another name, such as the Chech Republic, or not knowing who really runs Iran, or how many troops the U. S. currently has in Iraq, or that Pakistan does not share a border with Iraq. Everyday almost, there is a blooper of some kind around his strong suit, knowledge on foreigh affairs. The New York Times rejected an op-ed piece he wrote, about Iraq, saying that he had not been specific enough, and he had not defined, what his version of "victory" was. They asked him to re-submit the article. In repsonse to criticism, the paper said they had printed at least seven or nine articles by Senator McCain, but this particular one, was unacceptable. A reporter dissected Senator McCain's
economic policy, and came away saying, that his plans
were out of balance in essence and ineffective. Back to the drawing board, I would imagine, guess he might call his former Economic Advisor Phil Gramm, who resigned from the campaign, on Friday, after stating that we were only in a "mental recession".
Meanwhile Senator Obama is enjoying a well received
greeting, by the troops in Iraq, and making two, back to back three point basketball shots, during his off time with the troops. The pictures of the Senator, being so well received by the men and women of the military service, would be the envy of any presidental candidate. My guess would be that Senator McCain is kind of sorry he made such a point, of the fact that Senator Obama, had not been to Iraq since 2004. Obama saw him and raised him, he appears, so far to be the winner in this game of great public relations overseas. He meets with King Abdullah of Jordan, tomorrow, then on to Germany, where it is said one hundred thousand people will await him, then to France, and on to England. I might have the sequence out of order, but those are the countries, he will visit. Senator Obama is said to be getting ready to name his Vice-President prior to the beginning of the Olympics in China on August 8, 2008. Senator McCain, as leaked by reporter, Robert Novak, may announce his Vice-President, as early as this week, to take away some of the attention from Senator Obama. We'll be watching,
along with everyone else, nothing like good old American politics, to hold your undivided attention.