McCain attacks Obama's record on Iraq

From RCP Blog, McCain goes after Obama on his Iraq record, which, quite frankly, is incredibly inconsistent...even for him.  I'm still amazed (though I don't know why) at how lenient the press are with Obama's wavering positions. You know, it's like the world has forgotten that this guy is running for President and is not just a competitor on American Idol.

And remember, this is the guy who did the major foreign policy speech before actually going to Iraq. He really is the least qualified person to ever win their party's nomination.

The Sentence of the Week (so far)...

From Victor Davis Hanson's article "America is Not a Post-Anything" on RCP:

Refined Americans became more concerned over questions of gender, race and class justice in our universities and courtrooms, as if the chief problem were only dividing the American pie equitably, rather than expanding it.

What a perfect way of putting it.

I am awesome!!!

When I think of what Barack Obama has become, the term amour propre comes to mind. I first encountered the phrase when reading Francois de La Rouchefoucauld's Maximes (Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales). Basically, it means 'self-love', i.e. having an excessive sense of pride in oneself. Needless to say, it ain't exactly a good thing.

Charles Krauthammer, and a growing number of Americans, are also coming to the same conclusion: that Barack Obama's greatest admirer is Barack Obama himself. This conclusion from Krauthammer comes as Obama plans his European unveiling in front of the Brandenburg Gate:

What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation. When President Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin.

Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop?

_____

Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.

_____

For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?

We are getting to know. Redeemer of our uninvolved, uninformed lives. Lord of the seas. And more. As he said on victory night, his rise marks the moment when "our planet began to heal." As I recall -- I'm no expert on this -- Jesus practiced his healing just on the sick. Obama operates on a larger canvas.

Yeah, it's all getting a little absurd. Anyone so consumed by their own hype and purpose abetted with the power of the Presidency is a danger to the world.

Drudge's love for Mitt

Man, Drudge really loves Romney! The current top story is Romney's VP-worthy interview on CBS. Here's the whole thing:

I don't mind--I love Mitt too.

The Obama Party Vs The Democratic Party

Seems like some cracks are emerging after the Obama honeymoon period dies down. Politico have a story about some grumbling inside democratic circles about the frustrating, know-it-all attitude of the Obama campaign:

Among the grievances described by Democratic leadership insiders: 

• Until a mailing that went out in the past few days, Obama had done little fundraising for Democratic candidates since signing off on e-mailed fundraising appeals for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee immediately after securing the Democratic nomination. 

• Obama has sometimes appeared in members’ districts with no advance notice to lawmakers, resulting in lost opportunities for those Democrats to score points by appearing alongside their party’s presumptive presidential nominee. 

• The Obama campaign has not, until very recently, coordinated a daily message with congressional Democrats, leaving Democratic members in the lurch when they’re asked to comment on the constant back and forth between Obama and John McCain — as they were when Obama said earlier this month that he would “continue to refine” his Iraq policies after meeting with commanders on the ground there.

• Coordination between the Obama campaign and the House and Senate leadership is so weak that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — who will chair the Democrats’ convention in August — didn’t know of Obama’s decision to move his final-night acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field until the campaign announced it on a conference call with reporters.

Of course, the Obama campaign have rejected all these claims as merely the opinion of low-level staffers trying to score points with the press. But isn't that just the kind of arrogance that's got them into this position in the first place?

Obama's foreign policy

So Obama has just given his major foreign policy speech (full speech here).  It's actually not a bad speech -- it's quite well detailed but I get a little nervous when someone like Obama starts talking about changing the nature of operations.

Here's a few thoughts I had:

Shouldn't this speech have been given after visiting Iraq? Wouldn't that have made more sense? At least then, he would've been able to refer to conversations he had with Gen. Petraeus "last week" instead of in "April 2007".

Although bin Laden and al-Zawahari are still at large, many of the top AQ commanders and operatives have been captured or killed--the 9/11 mastermind KSM is in custody in Gitmo, isn't he?

Obama's still holding onto the old "I was opposed to the war from the start, and John McCain was its biggest supporter". Yep, fair enough, except McCain was an experienced Senator and an ex-presidential candidate, and Obama was in the Illinois State Legislature--I can't believe Monday morning quarterbacking can be used as justification for your suitability for a job.  I thought Spain would win the European Championships (even after Villa got injured), so does that mean I'm qualified to manage Barcelona or Man Utd? 

And finally, let's not forget that Barack Obama's main qualification for this job is a career as lawyer, social worker, and legislator of Chicago (And no offence to my many friends in the windy city, but Chi-town is not exactly what you'd call the paragon of political and social success).

Barack's Military Experience

Here's Obama trying really, really, reeeeaaaally hard to convince America that he's got some military experience:

Way to go, Barack, the world can rest easy. Maybe next time you talk about Iran, you can try and maintain this kind of message.

Finally...

Unbelievable. The BBC (News 24) have just acknowledged while reporting today's suicide bombing that the violence in Iraq is down and that the country is stabilising. Of course, they say it's all because of the Iraqi army (and it is to some extent...but let's not pretend that the Americans and, to a lesser extent, the Brits, weren't the driving force). 

Incidentally, I just finished reading Michael Yon's "Moment of truth in Iraq". I recommend it to anyone seeking an honest and unbiased report on life in Iraq over the last couple of years. It strikes an excellent balance between the combat missions and diplomatic endeavours that have gone unreported for so long. Great read.

Satire, anybody? No?

Obama should know better than anyone that you don't judge a book by its cover. Perhaps he should have read the articles about him before condemning a satirical cover cartoon.  I actually have no problem with the cartoon -- it's perfect satire.  It's making a powerful statement about all of the whispered lies and fears that people have about Obama's candidacy. When they're put together what comes out is a pretty ridiculous image.  I don't know why Obama weighed in anyway, all it did was turn an edgy cover into an international headline (it was the third headline on the BBC news last night).  And for those of us who do understand what satire actually is, it's kind of embarrassing that this amazing, incredible person doesn't get it.

For the record, there are countless cartoons out there portraying John McCain (or Bush) as an evil conniving warmongers and there's not a whiff of satire anywhere.

But let's not confuse cheap comedy with high-brow satire. This cover wasn't about making people laugh or scoring points, it was about compounding and confronting lies. Perhaps one of the problems is that the comedic boundaries haven't yet been established.  So far only black comedians can poke fun at Obama, while the late night acts say that he's a tough target because 'he's not very funny'.  Of course, these are the same guys who do the John-McCain-is-so-old-that-he-still...(insert quip here), every night.

In an article in IHT, it's suggested by Conan O'Brien's head writer, Mike Sweeney that it's because there's a sense that you don't want to go after the guy you like:

There is no doubt, several representatives of the late-night shows said, that so far their audiences (and at least some of the shows' writers) seem to be favorably disposed toward Obama, to a degree that perhaps leaves them more resistant to jokes about him than those about most previous candidates.

"A lot of people are excited about his candidacy," Sweeney said. "It's almost like: 'Hey, don't go after this guy. He's a fresh face; cut him some slack.' "

Justin Stangel, who is a head writer for "Late Show With David Letterman," disputed that, saying, "We always have to make jokes about everybody. We're not trying to lay off the new guy."

But (Mike) Barry (who wrote political jokes for Johnny Carson) said, "I think some of us were maybe too quick to caricature Al Gore and John Kerry and there's maybe some reluctance to do the same thing to him."

That article, which is worth a read, concludes with Sweeney hoping that Obama picks an idiot VP. Yeah, except the problem there is that all the jokes will again be in and around Obama but not daring to actually go after him personally.

Hillary wants to keep her cash

So Hillary wants to keep her 2008 cash for her Senate re-election campaign in 2012. Riiiight. It's for the (air-quote) Senate (air-quote) campaign in 2012. Come on Hillary, let it go.