Monday, July 28, 2008

Who do we trust on the WOT?

Everyone is talking about Obama's and McCain's "timetables" or "horizons" of our troops getting out of Iraq. Obama says McCain has come closer to his position of 16 months and McCain says that Obama has changed his position to deciding factors on the ground.

Obama said this: "Iraq force will be 'entirely conditions-based. It's hard to anticipate where we may be six months from now."

McCain said this when asked why McCain thought Maliki said that 16 months was pretty good timetable: "He said it's a pretty good timetable based on conditions on the ground. I think it's a pretty good timetable, as we should -- or horizons for withdrawal. But they have to be based on conditions on the ground."

So basically McCain and Obama are saying the same thing. They will get the troops out as soon as possible, but everything hinges on conditions on the ground.

Now, this has always been what McCain position. I don't think any of us think McCain will pull our troops out if commanders say they are still needed. We know this.

What we don't know about Obama is if he saying these things for political purposes only. Given that things are still not perfect in Iraq, we need someone who understands this.

But to me, it puts the Iraq situation off the table for now as far as the candidates go. They seem to agree. It may make the base of the Democratic party angry with Obama, but they aren't going anywhere and he knows it. He can afford to look all hawkish now.

So given that the two candidates are basically saying the same thing there, the only questions are who would we trust to move forward in the war on terror? Who would we trust to handle ongoing violence? Who would we trust if another terrorist attack occurred? Who was right on what to do to bring Iraq to this successful conclusion?

Who would you trust to know what to do?

There is simply no question to who that is. John McCain.