The war that cannot be lost is not the campaign in Iraq, but the larger effort on terror. Any office gained at the expense of victory in the GWOT is rendered worthless by definition. While it is a relatively easy mental bridge to cross, I don’t know that “OH” has crossed it, I know McCain has.
1) Our major goal in Iraq was to take out a terror supporting, WMD wielding, genocide touting, Human rights stomping, corrupt to the bone government and replace it with one that was not. McCain supported it, “OH” did not.
2) When challenged by an insurgency that was larger than anything anticipated by our side, McCain pointed to the path we are now on. “OH” said run away.
3) The “central theater” of the war on terror by Obama’s reckoning is Pakistan. Having condemned the doctrine of preemption, Obama is promoting exactly that action against Pakistan. McCain embraces a policy which suits the situation along the border of Afghanistan and the Pak NW Territories, just as he supported a policy that suited the conditions in Iraq.
4) McCain’s position has been clear and consistent, agree or not. “OH” has taken a position that is complicated and ambiguous, and has been consistent in being ambiguous. I think Benj believes this ambiguity demonstrates “OH”s fluidity of thought. It appears that Benj suggests “OH”s complex answers are movements along the trajectory of history, and Benj strives to provide passages about “OH” that illuminate that notion. You have to work to understand “OH” and even then we’re not sure where he stands, or what he said, especially when he prefaces his statement with “Let me be Clear” or “I’ve said all along” or “I am going to say”.
Stating the surge was successful because of the political gains made, saying the political gains made were as a result of the pressure of time lines for benchmarks, after stating that no political progress could be made because of the happy hapenstance that X must occur before Y or Z or “OH” could spout the nonsense and willful deceit about a policy that purposefully and by design sought out and took advantage of situations like the Awakening Movement are just as scurrilous as the lies about our troops abilities and culpabilities that have been paraded in the MSM this long seven years of war.
I’ll give “OH” his due, he has walked the tightrope well, with his words. But I will not advocate the transmission of words into somehow something more than the stating of ideas, the results of which implementation “OH” has not, will not, or cannot take responsibility or credit.
