So a President Obama’s policy would be determinative. If that policy happened to coincide with the “will of the Iraqi people” it would be just ducky. But for the moment Obama hasn’t asked them.

If Obama asked them, the talking point would be that Obama is measuring for curtains in the White House prior to his coronation. Did McCain ask the Iraqis anything when he was over there on one of his photo-ops? No, but he did take the trouble to demean Maliki’s call for timetables as merely a political move.

“I’ve always said we will come home with honor and with victory, and not through a set timetable.”

Of Maliki, McCain said, “Look, he’s a politician. He is a leader of a country that’s finally coming together.