July 21, 2008
From Iraq with Love (Armstrong Williams)
I can’t get over the media circus surrounding Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) trip to Afghanistan and Iraq. Never mind that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) didn’t even whiff the rarified air of the network anchors on his multiple trips overseas. We’ll just chalk that up to another instance of media bias. But something deeper is being established here.
Apparently, Obama’s handlers have deluded themselves into believing their guy can transform into some über-diplomat simply by visiting the country for a few hours. Need to burnish some foreign policy credentials for your presidential campaign? No problem, just hit the road to the remotest regions of the world and voilà — instant international policy expert.
I’m not saying that Sen. McCain is completely innocent of such tactics. Many in Washington were scratching their heads while he was traipsing through the jungles of Colombia last month — burning precious time reserved for the campaign trail. But then came the freeing of hostages held by the FARC Colombian rebels, and McCain looked, well, presidential.
Perhaps these moves are more sophisticated than they first appear. Maybe Americans appreciate the fact that their candidates are traveling beyond the confines of America and seeing the world firsthand. Perhaps … but do not be deceived, these are trips staged to the finest detail, with little left to chance and happenstance. Sen. Obama knows this, and has treated it as such — an extension of his political campaign. Why do you think the network anchors are along for the ride? It’s surely not because of the news quotient that the “surge” is working.
And while I’m on the subject, would the senator from Illinois please stop trying to ride both sides of the troop withdrawal issue? For as long as I can remember, Democrats have chided, goaded and even threatened the government of Iraq into a timetable in order to get them to “take more responsibility” for their security situation. For months, these individuals were practically insulting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his ability to lead, implying they knew what the prime minister needed to turn the ship of state around. And now, when Maliki hints a timetable is in his country’s best interests, Sen. Obama is all too eager to sit down and praise the Iraqi leader’s prescience and wisdom on the matter. Somebody cue the commercial …
Never mind that all of Maliki’s statements have added the corollary that when the conditions are right, and the entire country is stabilized from a security perspective, then a timeline is appropriate and in order.
The old saw that politics stops at the nation’s shores no longer seems to apply in today’s campaigns. Only the voters can decide if that’s a good thing or not. I just wish the candidates weren’t so politically opportunistic about it.
Visit www.armstrongwilliams.com
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Since Obama's trip was staged it does not mean anything, does not mean that by going on his vacation he is a more qualified than before he went. Why make a mountain out of a moe hill. It's not worthy of all the jounalist time. The NYT did not lose out on anything. MCCAIN is still better qualified to be PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES. By the way Obama only handle 10 cases as a lawyer, and helped out on some abestos apartments that were left incomplete for the poor people as a community organizer. No, this trip will not help him at all. VOTE MCCAIN, ONE OF 18 MILLION.
Comment by minnie — July 22, 2008 @ 6:08 am
Hi Armstrong
…Hopefully you saw the movie Chevy Chase's, Vacation, this trip to the middle East reminds me of the part when the family stops to visit the Grand Canyon. Ha!Ha!
Seriously, there is nothing wrong w/ Obama making the trip. It is good for world news, U.S. image, but where was the enterage on news media when McCain went tot the Middle East un-teen times…
McCain is a guy still standing who wears his experience on his face, in his gate, and in his soul. He has walked the walk for every single American citizen as a soldier and a politician. The media should cover this man like an Olympic event.
Comment by JFK-HRC — July 22, 2008 @ 9:18 am
Armstrong, the shill, seems bitter and clinging to his neocon rhetoric.
Comment by Dwayne Mac — July 22, 2008 @ 9:41 am
Not to worry. All this postering with make-believe foreign policy expertise is simply a fall-back scenario for Obama. In case he loses, he has dibs on the release of the Black Knight II.
Comment by Mr. G.G. Garcia — July 22, 2008 @ 9:41 am
Armstrong;
What's wrong, you folks thought that Obama would screw this trip up and make McCain look good? Well guess what, he didn't and in the process, he has the world waiting for a man who not only looks presidential but acts it also. You folk taunted Obama to make this trip and now you're bitching that he is doing goods. It is too badd that you have McCain as your candidate, but you voted for him. McCain has been wrong on everything about Iraq and Afghanistan and whining about it only make you folks look like the crybabies you are.
Comment by Mike Coleman — July 22, 2008 @ 11:28 am
Sorry Armstrong. You now know what makes America work. I just pray that you will have an epiphany. You will realize that Barack Obama does not diminish you.
You have no objectivity.
Comment by blaksmith — July 22, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
Boy! are you right wing neo-cons miffed that an educated man can present America in a good light overseas again.
Comment by PoliticalWorld — July 22, 2008 @ 10:12 pm