I was going to wait until Obama's world tour was over to blog about it but there's just too much juicy stuff happening. It's already clear that this trip has been an unmitigated disaster for...
John McCain. Earlier this spring McCain had
belittled Obama for not going to Iraq and Afghanistan to see for himself the conditions there. So Obama went.
Obama first landed in Afghanistan, where he met with Hamid Karzai and stated that more troops were needed there to combat the resurgent Taliban. McCain, on the other hand, thinks Iraq
borders Afghanistan, and didn't get the memo that Czechoslovakia is
no longer a country.
In Iraq, Obama met with Maliki, who
agreed with Obama that 16 months would be a good timeline for the troops to leave, deftly
puncturing one of McCain's main assertions, the famous
Hundred Years.
Then Obama went to Israel and met with both the Israeli government and Palestinian leaders, meanwhile, stateside, a new poll has him
more popular among Jews than Joe Lieberman.
Obama now heads over to Germany where a projected million people are expected to hear him speak. Then on to France and England, where he is
also wildly popular. It will take a long time to repair the damage Bush has done to America's image abroad, but if this is any indication, electing Obama will get us off to a running start.
At the same time, John
"Offshore Drilling Now!" McCain had to
cancel an appearance on a Gulf oil rig due to an approaching hurricane and since all the press is on Obama's plane anyway,
canceled his famous press availability. McCain needs a vacation.