With findings already found, Obama's fact-finding trip can relax

A couple of seemingly unrelated political developments struck the Ticket early this morning.

First of all, it was unusually thoughtful of Sen. Barack Obama to give his big foreign policy speech before his big foreign policy trip and announce the results of his findings in advance of the actual fact-finding junket to the Middle East and Europe.

There are a lot of things for average Americans to be doing in mid-summer in the United States. And worrying over exactly what the freshman senator heard from U.S., military commanders in Iraq about the actual situation on the ground should not be high on the list.

So now that we know he's going to stick to his 16-month end-the-war-no-matter-what pullout, not just the MoveOn.org crowd but all of us can put on our own flip-flops and start focusing on the upcoming NFL roster cuts.

No, he's never been to Afghanistan, but Obama already knows it is the true central front in the war on al-Qaeda. Which is equally good.

And because the results of Obama's trip are already known and because Obama's staff has been practically begging them, all three network anchors are going to traipse along and seek three non-exclusive exclusive interviews along the route, as will top reporters for print media.

A whole planeload apparently. In marked contrast to the limited press coverage afforded the three foreign trips of Republican Sen. John McCain this year. But that probably has to do with something.

Without worrying over content, Obama's five-nation, 12,000-mile "tour" can be the rock star event Chicago HQ wants. Of course, if he does another one of those "Thank you, Sioux City" things and it gets reported, that might be another thing.

Speaking of change to believe in, ABC's Jake Tapper is reporting that Hillary Clinton has changed her hair and is now parting it on the right, which as believers in the actual little-known hair-part theory understand, is the more feminine side.

We'll leave it to Jake to explain all the details, but right hair parts are believed to connote strength, leadership and masculinity, which explains Jimmy Carter's troubled presidency and Margaret Thatcher's success but not Ronald Reagan's.

The other good news is that -- finally -- after nearly six weeks of not campaigning for a presidency somewhere Clinton has launched her fund-raising for the 2012 election. She says the money drive is for a New York senate reelection effort that year.

But someone just pointed out that 2012 also happens to be the same year as the next U.S. presidential election. What a coincidence, eh?

-- Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: Fox News

Comments

[BJ]

If Obama has already given his foreign policy speech, what is the need for the messiah's trips? He obviously "knows" what the future holds... why doesn't he just start solving the problems, instead of wasting his time travelling?

This guy is a mess! When he realized his leftist supporters got upset about his flip flop on his Irag policy, he flopped right back to make them happy. Nevermind that it doesn't make sense, and that he will not follow through with it IF elected! Once he's IN, he doesn't care who he lied to, or stepped on, to get there! THAT'S the OBAMA POLICY!

[John]

I think something that is even more noteworthy than Obama's campaign is the fact that this newspaper wants to elect McCain for an extension of Bush's reign.

[dorian]

wow. i had no idea mr. malcolm is such a jerk.

by the way, i bet mccain has been to the czech republic in the last 15 years but he still calls it czechoslovakia. and he's been to iraq 8 times in the last 2 years but as of 3 months ago he still didn't know the difference between sunni and shia.

[Oregon4Obama]

Obama has been saying for 19 Months that our focus should have been in Pakistan and Afghanistan from the beginning...."they are the ones responsible for the death of over 3000 americans"

And just yesterday the Bush administration announced that its focus is going to shift to Afghanistan.....Oh and McCain has been changing a little too, but I wouldnt trust McCain to lead our troops, a man who doesnt know a shiite from a sunni or Al Quaida from Al jazeera

This switch for Bush and McCain is showing people that Obama has a better foreign policy and is more open to ALL the information to make his decisions

Obama08

[JamesG]

The idea that a presidential candidate cannot or should not have foreign policy views before taking abroad a trip is absolutely absurd. Should a candidate be a blank slate with no policy ideas, who only makes up his mind based on what he is told by officials at the time of his visit?
I find it perfectly acceptable that Obama should have broad strategic views before the trip. He can use the trip to establish personal relationships with foreign leaders and American military officials, and to gain some insights on logistical challenges facing a planned withdrawal.
Do you want a leader or a middle mnager in the White House? A leader has broad views on issues, then directs ground-level managers such as military officials to carry out the policies. The president should be a voter-endorsed leader. The president should not turn to the military officials to develop his over-arching policy strategies.

[Matt]

It's not a fact finding trip. Its a political trip. Why would he need to go to Iraq to find out whats happening in Iraq? Does McCain, or Bush, or Biden, learn anything by going to Iraq and being surrounded by black hawks and hundreds of troops?

He's a US senator on the Foreign Relations committee. He knows as much about Iraq as Mccain, or Biden, or Hagel. We have things called phones and machines in space called satellites that allow people to talk face to face with people in Iraq. This is all political nonsense not based in common sense Malcolm. I expect more from media personnel.

[Andrew Austin]

With hindsight being 20/20, one can see how impossible it was for Hillary Clinton to have been the nominee.

[Jeffrey]

here we have another fool passing off as an expert! You think FDR had to go to Germany to know Hitler was the enemy? Did he have to visit Tokyo to know that the japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor? The Taliban shield bin laden. Bin laden is somehwere between Pakistan and Afghanistan - we all know he's NOT in iraq! Thus - logic dictates, that Afghanistan is the central front in the WOT - certainly not Iraq. But even if it was, how would a carefully scripted visit to a large country - where there's various factions fighting throughout, reveal anything? Obama's going to Iraq to visit with the people who may be working for him in less than half a year. He never said he was going to iraq to decide on policy - did he? He wants to talk with the men in charge so they know him and he knows them come jan. 20, 2009...
What more needs to be said?

[Craig Busse]

Sight seeing trips, such as McCain's, are just political stunts and an inefficient, even error and deception prone, method for gaining intelligence. Real intelligence is what is collected by professional observers and scrutinized by professional analysts and not what may be on the agenda of the careerist, politician brown-nosing brass who organize these shows.

Obama should be faulted not for formulating his foreign policy without such distractions but for letting McCain bluff him into participating in such charades.

[El Negro Fantastico]

Get real guys! Obama is a liberation theology-minded traitor. No matter where he goes, he has already been there in his leftist, socialist, america-hating mind. Regardless of what is really happening on the ground, he will mold it to be what is in line with his hate-America-first support base. The truth is America can never become a stand-for-good, non-racist, just and decent society. How then could they rally all the filth among the population that hates itself and consequently their own country? Just what exactly are we all supposed to do when this Hawaiian Muslim goes out into the world in order to put a negative light on his own country? He is a traitor and that's all there is to it. Makes me remember when Jimmy Carter did the same thing and Reagan beat him to a pulp declaring "I will not apologize for America". Personally, I don't care about the trash rotting in Gitmo nor the trash in this country that blames me for every injustice in the world because I am not black. Look at every enemy country America has defeated in the past. Today, they are prosperous and thriving nations enjoying human rights and many blessings. Everything America touches turns to gold. Sorry Obama, you can't have my vote. And IF you win, I'm buying 10 assault rifles the next day just to prove that neither you nor anyone else is going to ever take away my second amendment rights!

[jon]

Wow... pretty amazing, just how dumb this piece is. I wonder if Mr Malcolm actually believes what he wrote, or being a parrot for McCain, without thought, just comes naturally.
I've never been to Iraq, Afghanistan, or Pakistan, yet somehow I know that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11; that al-Quaeda was in Afghanistan, and is now in Pakistan; that the Taliban has strengthened in Afghanistan; that al-Quaeda in Mesopotamia would never be allowed (by the Iraqis) to take hold in Iraq; that our national interests are best served in Afghanistan; and that the Commander-in-Chief sets the mission, not the Generals.

Mr Malcolm, if you'd like to live in a Military Dictatorship, there are many to choose from. This Country, though, is not one (yet). Our Civilian Leadership (ie: the President) sets the agenda, for which it's the Military's duty to carry out.
The fact that Senator McCain, and President Bush, don't understand our form of government, nor the Constitution,
notwithstanding.
May I suggest a Civics class, to inform you of how this Government works, so you don't in the future, have need to broadcast your ignorance?

[Howard]

I have been noticing EXTREME MEDIA BIAS in favor of Obama. In addition to the recent analysis which shows that Obama has enjoyed over twice the news coverage as McCain, cable stations and websites like CNN are producing television specials like "Black In America", which I'm sure will air over and over ad nauseam, as a disguised P.R. promotion for Obama. CNN also shows extreme bias with the way they moderate their blogs in favor of Obama supporters, which is tantamount to censorship. And, now the three network anchors will be traveling with Obama overseas. It doesn't get more blatant than that !!!