Obama Heeds My Advice and Might go to Iraq

It is nice to see that Obama actually agrees with something I said.

You know, what they're doing over there is separated from their families, giving for their country. It's truly, truly amazing, and I think we would want to go over there and talk to them and see what sort of difficulties they're facing and see how it is that we can begin to carefully remove them and carefully bring them back to their families and bring them back to the United States."

So are they really going to go to Iraq and say to the troops in the field and tell them that they will bring them home withing 16 months whether the country is stable or not? Will he look General Petraeus in the eye and tell him that he has failed in his mission and must start to draw down troops in 16 months no matter what the situation on the ground is? Will Obama actually gainsay a career military man with the direct responsibility of keeping a 300,000 US fighting men and women alive and an entire country of 27 million people from decending into chaos?

I think this Iraq visit is fraught with potential gaffs and may be Obama's moment to shine or an opportunity to look like an ass in front of the American people. If he has a "Dukakis in the tank helmet" moment that may spell the end of his campaign. Or he might look like an actual leader of men walking tall and hanging out with the men and women that he might be commander and chief of one day. It seems a little like putting the defendant on the witness stand. It is massive all-in gamble.

If I was of a Rovian mindset I would put operatives in place to make sure some anti-Obama soldiers are planted in a crowd to boo him or turn their backs on him or something. Maybe you could have one hold up a banner that says "we shall not have died in vain" or "Don't send us home before the job is done" or something to that effect. In any case this could be Jeremiah Wright times 100 or it could win it all for him.