Obama's Iraq Plan Panders to Iraqi Citizens, While McCain Again Doesn't Know Something and Gave Up Four Months Before the Election! 107 Days to Go!

UPDATE (7/22 - MORNING): At approximately 35 seconds into last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart made roughly the same joke that I make further down this page. No, this doesn't prove plagarism. All it proves is that Jon Stewart and I use the same source for our humor: our religion.

• Me: By the way, you may have noticed that in the past 48 hours, America has seemed more stagnant and, frankly, less hopeful. This is because Barack Obama has left the building. In fact, he's left the whole continent, currently on a tour of the Middle East and Europe
• Jon: Let me ask you a more serious question: when you woke up this morning, did you feel a little colder, that the country was a little sadder, a little lonelier, a little less hopeful? There's a reason for that. -cut to news clip of "Barack Obama has left the country."

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So much news to get to today. Again, sorry for the weekend break, but my life does come before my blog (usually).



--> In an interview published on Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed explicit support for Senator Obama's plan to withdraw American troops in 16 months.





(from the article)

"Maliki was quick to back away from an outright endorsement of Obama, saying "who they choose as their president is the Americans' business." But he then went on to say: "But it's the business of Iraqis to say what they want. And that's where the people and the government are in general agreement: The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.""


Ben Smith has a fantastic article about the phenomenon that this incident demonstrates: foreign leaders have enormous sway over our elections, and they know it. Just as Osama's last-minute threat before the 2004 election may have swayed the outcome to Bush (as a certain Republican nominee suggested at the time), any incident in the world, including a simple quote, can have massive repercussions. Robert Reid also suggests that this endorsement of Obama's plan is a shrewd way for the Iraqi government to gain negotiating leverage with the Bush Administration on how American troops are eventually withdrawn.


Meanwhile, the McCain campaign is probably pretty terrified by this news, since it demonstrates that the will of Iraqis runs counter to what both McCain and Bush has asserted is best for them and best for us. So we should assume that the Republican Bush Administration would do everything it could to minimize the press coverage of this story, right? Well, apparently their strategy to keep the story quiet was to e-mail the story, entitled "Iraqi PM Backs Obama Troop Exit Plan," to every reporter they could think of. According to this report, a White House employee meant to send the Reuters story out for internal distribution, but "pressed the wrong button," and sent it to the media instead.


Also, has anyone noticed that the Bush Administration, on accepting the need for a "general time horizon" on troop withdrawals from Iraq, calling for more troops to secure Afghanistan, and engaging in negotiations with Iran, seems to be taking its foreign policy cues from the presidential candidate they assert isn't ready to be Commander-in-Chief?

EDC's Election "Dos" Cents: This announcement by Maliki is glorious news for the Obama Campaign. It's really irrelevant whether he's doing it to benefit Obama, because it's hard for McCain to spin this by accusing Maliki of pandering to his own citizens. Best case scenario for Obama: not only is McCain forced to accept that troop withdrawals are the answer at this point, but Obama frames the debate as "I was right all along - right that the invasion was a mistake all the way until I was right that it was time to leave." The American people realize that experience counts for nothing - judgment is what matters most, and Obama wins the election on every issue - economics, reforms, and foreign policy alike. Worst case scenario for Obama: the Iraq War basically becomes a non-issue as McCain accepts that troop withdrawals are the way it's going to be (as he promised he would in 2004 if this scenario arose), but continues to assert that the surge is what allowed us to withdraw. Thus he can still fight the judgment argument, but ultimately the election will be decided by the economy - as I've said before, guess who wins that one?

--> John McCain, apparently overwhelmed by this recent run of bad news, has apparently cashed in his chips and given up on winning this election. At a recent town hall event in New Mexico, he welcomed Congressman Steve Pearce (R-NM), who is running for Senate in that state (and will most likely be demolished). McCain said, "Could I mention the presence of my friend, Congressman Steve Pearce, who I believe will be joining me in the United States Senate?" Now, as my most-likely flawed reading of the Constitution seems to tell me, John McCain cannot hold both the White House and his Senate seat at the same time. I think Senator Obama and the entire Democratic Party will join me in graciously offering John McCain his Senate seat back. We won't even put up a fight. In fact, I'm sure Obama plans on doing everything he can to ensure that just one of Pearce and McCain ends up in the Senate next year (and, for the record, Tom Udall will be the next Senator from New Mexico, not Pearce).

--> Following up on an earlier story about McCain failing to give an answer to a serious question about health insurance covering Viagra and birth control, McCain found another question that he couldn't answer yesterday: when asked if he thought that Barack Obama is a socialist, McCain replied, "I don't know." I suppose if I was deciding my vote based solely on un-Bushishness, then McCain's indecisiveness might give him a leg up. Unfortunately for him, that's one of the few things he doesn't have in common with our current leader.

--> By the way, you may have noticed that in the past 48 hours, America has seemed more stagnant and, frankly, less hopeful. This is because Barack Obama has left the building. In fact, he's left the whole continent, currently on a tour of the Middle East and Europe. EDC will bring you live, in-person coverage of the whole tour some time in the next day or two, as Ben tries to sneak aboard Obama's carefully guarded flights in between these countries.

--> Wondering if a human being could really care quite so much about staying in shape, reporters have begun to question if Barack Obama's frequent "gym visits" are merely a front for secret meetings with prospective VPs. As for our ongoing Veepstakes, current buzz seems to focus on Indiana Senator Evan Bayh. Bayh is a smart guy, albeit a bit more conservative than your average Democrat, but he's a former Clinton supporter, willing to be an attack dog, and hails from a potential swing state. He also has a lot in common with Obama, as he was keen to mention to a reporter. Currently, my top guesses for running mate are either Bayh, Clinton (I still think she might have a chance), and Tim Kaine (Governor of Virginia whose term expires in a year anyway). They'd all be good picks. Also, as I mentioned a while ago, expect a pick in a week or two, because it needs to happen before the Olympics.

Don't they look good together? Sam Nunn looks less good, I guess.

That's all for tonight. Sorry to leave you with so many questions. Who will Barack Obama pick as his running mate, and when will he do it? What did John McCain do at Yankee Stadium that had Ben fuming (besides going to Yankee Stadium)? How is Obama doing with the crucial non-citizen, international/overseas vote? What is Tarnish Jutmoll's deep dark secret? These questions might have been answered on Nostrum, but since that's been discontinued, I'll have to consider doing it here, next time on Election Day Countdown.