Obama--Ignore the facts, advance to the rear

Michael Goodwin:

Barack Obama and John McCain had a virtual debate on Iraq and Afghanistan Tuesday and there were two takeaways. The first is that they agree on the need for more troops in Afghanistan. The second is that Obama's vision of Iraq and how it fits into our national security is, to put it kindly, still a work in progress.

Their speeches, Obama's in Washington and McCain's in New Mexico, were carried back to back on the cable networks. It's the closest thing we're likely to get to a debate until September because Obama has rejected McCain's invitation for joint appearances.

After Tuesday, I can see why. Obama is most comfortable reading a prepared speech from a TelePrompTer, while McCain likes to roam a stage, mixing prepared remarks with a question-and-answer format. Each was in his element, but McCain was far more realistic and persuasive on the connection between Iraq and Afghanistan and the need to keep pressing forward in both. "We can succeed in both," he said.

...

He (Obama) can't bring himself to acknowledge how the successful surge of our troops has altered the dynamics in Iraq and that he was wrong to oppose it. He went further than usual in citing "the gains of the surge," but still won't factor those gains into his commitment to withdraw combat troops over 16 months. When he says, "I stand by my pledges to end the war," he might as well add, "The facts be damned."

Meanwhile, he wants to use the surge strategy in Afghanistan, saying, "This is a war we have to win." The contrast he set up suggests he does not believe Iraq is a meaningful struggle and that we have little stake in the outcome. The number of Americans who agree with him is declining because of the success, proving they were not opposed to the war as much as they opposed losing it.

There were other head-scratchers as well. Obama talked tough about forging a new relationship with Pakistan to keep militants from crossing into Afghanistan. But in the next breath, he attacked President Pervez Musharraf, who, despite his flaws, is more committed to rooting out Taliban and Al Qaeda elements than the coalition government now calling the shots.

...

The questions that Obama seeks to evade on Iraq are many. Here are a few. Would we be better off now with Saddam Hussein in power? Would we be better off now with Al Qaeda in power in Iraq? Why does Obama think the US is too weak to fight two relatively low intensity wars when we fought and won two major wars in World War II? Isn't the US stronger now than it was in the 1940s? McCain is right. We can win both.