FRIEDMAN: The right position on Iraq today is probably “McBama”
i.e. stick to a clear withdrawal timetable because post-surge Iraqi and American politics will tolerate nothing else — but leave yourself some wiggle room if things keep getting better, but not exactly on schedule. Always remember: the more Iraq is seen as succeeding on its own, without U.S. scaffolding, the more positive impact it will have on the neighborhood."Obama made up his mind before he went on his trip, so it really wasn’t a fact-finding trip because the facts weren’t going to change his mind."
Minnesota Governor PawlentyGingrich: How to judge Obama overseas trip
One measure of the overseas trip will be the degree to which Obama is willing to acknowledge that what he has seen has changed his thinking.
In Gingrich’s formulation, no one as bright as Obama can spend 10 days overseas and not come away with insights he didn’t have when he started. “If he encounters realities different than he expected, is he willing to actually share that with the American people?” Gingrich wondered.
The second measure for Gingrich is any hint of how Obama would react upon discovering that what he has been talking about won’t work. From Pakistan to Iran to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Gingrich said, Obama may well discover that the ideas he enunciated during the campaign fall short. “The core principle is, ‘so what do you do if the world’s harder than you think it is?’” he said.
Jill Iscol, Hillraiser
Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist with close ties to the Obama campaign.
When asked if he went online himself, the Arizona senator responded:
“They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself.
“I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need - including going to my daughter’s blog first, before anything else.
“I use the Blackberry, but I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail.
“I read e-mails all the time, but the communications that I have with my friends and staff are oral and done with my cell phone. I have the luxury of being in contact with them literally all the time. We now have a phone on the plane that is usable on the plane, so I just never really felt a need to do it.
“But I do - could I just say, really - I understand the impact of blogs on American politics today and political campaigns. I understand that.
“And I understand that something appears on one blog, can ricochet all around and get into the evening news, the front page of The New York Times. So, I do pay attention to the blogs. And I am not in any way unappreciative of the impact that they have on entire campaigns and world opinion.”
OMFG. Stuck.
