Obama is Presidential

All this yucking about Obama "trying" to look presidential. He's more presidential than the president and McCain put together.
Frank Rich:

The growing Obama clout derives not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Nor is it a gift from the press, which still gives free passes to its old bus mate John McCain. It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”

Never mind. This election remains about the present and the future, where Iraq’s $10 billion a month drain on American pocketbooks and military readiness is just one moving part in a matrix of national crises stretching from the gas pump to Pakistan. That’s the high-rolling political casino where Mr. Obama amassed the chips he cashed in last week. The “change” that he can at times wield like a glib marketing gimmick is increasingly becoming a substantive reality — sometimes through Mr. Obama’s instigation, sometimes by luck. Obama-branded change is snowballing, whether it’s change you happen to believe in or not.
You must read the whole thing because it ties it all together.

Just for fun, check out McCain's applesauce and cheese aisle strategy..

Surge Hoopla

Forget about Obama hoopla. Maybe if McCain and his crew could come up with something more than "the surge worked" and "Obama is wrong on the surge," maybe he'd get some press. This video speaks for itself.

McCain Just Doesn't Get It

McCain is like George Bush in the way of not getting things.
Obama gives a rich speech on a complex topic, laying out his plans for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
McCain calls Obama's strategy premature because, he says, Obama hasn't talked to the ground forces. (McCain's counter speech).
I have one answer: Leadership. Leaders assert themselves, they lead the way. Obama is saying this is the deal, this is the strategy, this is what I want to happen. Make it happen. That's what leaders do.
Obama's visit to Iraq lends itself to tactics -- how to accomplish the strategy. This is just basic stuff and it's so apparent to me that McCain is George Bush that I want to scream but all I have is this blog to vent to and so I do.
Obama has plenty of foreign policy advisers who have already given him the information he needs. Obama has already put plenty of thought into foreign policy. This is his strong suit, contrary to perceptions that he's weak on foreign policy.
McCain is too old fashioned in his thinking. We are in a new world, which calls for new thinking.

CNN: McCain attacked the Illinois senator's opposition to the surge policy in Iraq and highlighted his own proposal for victory in Afghanistan.

"[Obama] is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to Gen. Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time," McCain said at a campaign event in New Mexico.

"In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: First you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy."

Oh, and McCain finally got around to explaining his policy in Afghanistan.
All his blather about the "surge" is bogus. Bush-McCain say the "surge" worked. What do they mean by that? Highly debatable. This big "surge" strategy was adding more troops. That's it. That's all. There had to be more military intervention because diplomacy and politics failed because our current administration is incompetent.