- Obama has been saying since last year that 16 months, if conditions on the ground warrant, a phased withdrawal from Iraq can be done. McCain just agreed yesterday. The Iraqis agree too.
- Obama has been saying direct talks with our enemies i.e. Iran, will yield better results. Bush just agreed and sent top diplomats to meet with Iran. McCain still disagrees and thinks not talking is better.
- Obama says that improving relations between the US and Europe is key to success in Afghanistan. The World agrees. McCain does not give a crap about Europe.
- Obama has been saying that moving more troops to Afghanistan is key to the war against terrorist and that it is the central battle against them. McCain disagrees (actually said Iraq was the "first" major battle after 9/11. I think he forgot about Afghanistan... yikes). Just asking, where is Bin Laden?
- Obama said the surge is just one factor that has reduced violence in Iraq. McCain is making crap up about the surge and has messed up key time line around its implementation.
- Obama has been against the Iraq conflict from the start. McCain has been for it the whole time. McCain has said that he "aggressively" told the Bush administration that they were mismanaging the war but the only videos that exist (and there are tons of them) show McCain praising Bush and in lock-step with him. There are NO videos of him criticizing Bush before the campaign started.
- McCain has repeatedly criticized Obama for positions that he now is supporting. He even is criticizing Obama for taking his trip overseas when that is exactly what McCain did.
Here is what it comes to, and Obama said it best today... I paraphrase. There is a convergence on his ideas because reality is setting in. Obama has been right and others are caught trying to catch up so they do not look stupid. How long can McCain look stupid and still retain 40%+ of the votes from polling data?
McCain is an old man that can't remember facts and is now attacking Obama with irrational arguments. If he is doing this now, imagine how bad it will be in 2, 3 or 4 years if he is elected. When the mind starts to go, it is a slippery slop. Is this the type of President we want?
1 comment:
James, I think it's more than just McCain being wrong and now needing to catch up. I think this is a GAME PLAN... Here's how I see it:
1) deny, denounce, ridicule, refute "an idea". Say anything.
2) promote "the author" as a risky choice, with no real understanding and no record to speak of
3) start shuffling over to the other side of "the idea" very slowly (yes, close to "the author's" point of view)
4) claiming that "conditions have changed" indicate you support a somewhat edited version of "the idea" but that your support of "the idea" is better.
5) And, since your view and the author's are practically similar, why take risks with such an unknown quantity as "the author"?
Substitute "the idea" any issue and put Obama in place of "the author" and take a look at recent events.
It's the McCain strategy.
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