Sen. Obama's suggestion that the U.S. not only should withdraw from Iraq, but consider sending troops to our ally, Pakistan--regardless of whether we are invited by the government there--has to rank as the oddest moment of the political drama so far this year.
That smell your nose is detecting may well be the Obama campaign going up in smoke.
Obama's natural base is the peace crowd. They don't want the United States to fight in Iraq. They really don't want to fight in Afghanistan. In Canada, where Parliament refused to send troops to Iraq but does have a small contingent in Afghanistan, the media and the opposition parties are now demanding that the troops be brought back from Afghanistan. That is the true voice of the peace crowd. They don't want to fight anywhere.
So how does that base react when their top presidential choice suggests sending troops, unbidden, into Pakistan?
This is such an obvious misstep on Obama's part that I would expect him to back off the "troops to Pakistan" line almost immediately. But, even so, he will have damaged his case.
They must be celebrating over at "Hillary '08" headquarters!
Leave a comment