Looks like the Republicans are now pulling the coalition of the willing up onto their bully pulpit. But Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s shot at Obama this weekend just may backfire, as it immediately put the Senator on the international stage sparring with a head of state, plus, it keeps the war and its toll in sharp focus.
To refresh, Howard theorized that if he “were running al Qaeda in Iraq,” (now that would be something to talk about) “I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying for a victory, not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats.”
This in response to Obama’s proposal that the U.S. pull out all troops by the end of next March. “I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory.”
Obama, not one to back down, responded asking if Howard were to send another 20,000 of his own troops over to Iraq (the country has 1,400 there now), then they could talk. Until then, “it’s just empty rhetoric.”
This is not the first time that we have heard this chorus, that our enemies will be emboldened with Democrats in power, but to have a foreign head of state slam the Dems? It’s a bit like someone outside your family talking smack about your mom, even Republicans are telling Howard to keep his mouth shout. Me, I’m going to go ahead and circle March 2008 so I look out for the chaos and instability that Howard predicts is in Iraq’s future.
