Barack's New Policy - Stay in Iraq

Perhaps Phil Gramm wasn't referring to you and me when he made his comments about all the whining in America. I think he was talking about Barack, who sounded like quite the whiner today with his lament on the war in Iraq. In fact, he sounds downright depressed.



Barack forced himself into respectful acknowledgment of September 11, and seemingly gave the speech before finding a suitable tone to strike. The result was depressed rather than dignified.

The attacks of September 11 brought this new reality into a terrible and ominous focus. On that bright and beautiful day, the world of peace and prosperity that was the legacy of our Cold War victory seemed to suddenly vanish under rubble, and twisted steel, and clouds of smoke.

And then the lament.

Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days, and months, and years after 9/11.

We could have...

We could have...

We could have...

We could have done that.

Instead, we have lost thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats - all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

Lamenting the past is not very leaderly. Nor is it the least bit inspiring. So he turns to looking ahead. And lays out his new position on the war.

To achieve that success, I will give our military a new mission on my first day in office: ending this war. Let me be clear: we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months.

When he was lying to the Moveon.org crowd, there were no "We can safely redeploy" statements. Only we will. It drives me crazy that the media is not focusing on the most appalling betrayal of voters one could imagine - premeditated and malicious.

Barack did say something that was very revealing:

George Bush and John McCain don't have a strategy for success in Iraq - they have a strategy for staying in Iraq.

That is true, in part. But at least if you stay, you have a shot at success. On the other hand, George McGovern and Barack Obama don't have a plan for ending the war, they have a plan for abandoning the war.

To achieve that success, I will give our military a new mission on my first day in office: ending this war.

Okay. Answer me this. If John McCain sits down with military leaders and says how do we win this war, how different is their answer going to be from when Barack says how do we end this war. Unless he specifically tells them to withdraw willy-nilly, which was his official policy until yesterday, they're not going to volunteer that we withdraw willy-nilly. Which means they'll hammer out a plan for staying in Iraq.