Is as follows:
Lost yesterday in the frenzy over Scott McClellan’s new book was McCain’s blistering attack on Obama over the fact that the Illinois senator hasn’t been to Iraq since 2006. Indeed, the RNC even released an online clock counting the days since Obama last visited the Middle East country. Then later in the day, the New York Times reported that Obama is considering a trip to Iraq; his campaign, in fact, has been discussing such a trip for weeks. Has McCain boxed Obama in on this issue — because if he does actually go to Iraq, will it look like McCain’s idea?
First, I can not be the only one who remembers this:
So John McCain, in order to prove his point that there are neighborhoods in Baghdad that an American can stroll through safely, tells reporters at a press conference that he just got back from a 1-hour walk around the city. Safe and sound! Though, oddly for a guy running for president, without any TV cameras around. Later it turns out that he visited….
Wait for it….
A market three minutes from the Green Zone. Wearing a bulletproof vest. Accompanied by over a hundred well-armed soldiers. Covered by three Blackhawk helicopters. And two Apache gunships.
The visit was tragically followed by this news a few days later:
The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital. The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.
Sometimes those fact-finding missions just aren’t what they are cracked up to be.
Second, this is not about time in theatre, because if it were we would be voting for General Petraeus, who has spent a helluva a lot more time in Iraq than John McCain. As have thousands of our guys on their third and fourth tours overseas since this fiasco started.
Finally, where do we even get the notion that the Commander-in-Chief even needs to visit the front lines? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it hurts, and I think when President Bush visited it definitely cheered up the troops- that is something they will remember forever.
But how many days did FDR spend on the front lines in France and Germany? What about Truman in Korea? Johnson and Nixon in Viet Nam? And I am not being snarky, I really don’t know how many days or even if they were on the front lines and am too lazy to research it right now (again, for all I know, FDR may have spent months operating out of a tent in Bastogne, although I think I would have heard about it), but even if they were I certainly don’t think it was used as the basis for why the public should vote for them or why their approach to the situation was better. Believe it or not, modern combat is slightly different from this, in which the Emperor actually was close to the front:
John McCain could set up his campaign headquarters in the Green Zone, and it wouldn’t make his ideas any better.
Incertus
I have to admit, I’m nervous about Obama going to Iraq. I’m nervous about him walking around in public these days, because I’ve lost all confidence in my government, especially since he’s on the cusp of winning the nomination.
Davebo
Via Joe Gandleman, Jeffie Gannon weighs in on Judas McClellan.
Link
Poor Scottie…
4tehlulz
Why do I keep thinking that Gannon means “knew” in the Biblical sense?
smiley
I’m pretty sure, though can’t swear to it, that Johnson went to Viet Nam. Don’t know if Nixon ever did.
flyerhawk
As far as I know the closest that FDR came to the front lines was Yalta in the Crimea. Perhaps you could argue Nova Scotia when he met Churchill but that was well within the safe haven for American naval vessels at the time.
You are, of course, completely right. Trips to Baghdad are utterly irrelevant. It’s not like you can learn anything hiding behind a massive shield of military might. It’s a political stunt and nothing more.
CFisher
Aww… you still think ideas matter to Republicans. That’s so cute.
Nope, all that matters is strapping on the flag pin, wrapping up in a flag toga and going overseas to
inconvenience and endanger troops who have to protect your civliian asserr…personally lead troops in neighborhood sweepsokay, to show you have balls of steel by mostly hanging out in the green zone and getting photo ops with the troops.liberal
Star Trek. Kirk often went down with the landing party.
nightjar
Also from Chuck Todd’s piece. I still think this is a golden opportunity for Obama if he plays it right. A chance to turn this silly attack meme from wingnuts into a plus.
SnarkyShark
All Obama has to say is this-
“Our troops have better things to do than escort politicians around on dog and pony shows. I won’t subject them to these worthless photo ops.”
People remember dog and pony shows in Vietnam. Remember, we have to fight bumper-sticker slogan wars. Do the most damage you can with the fewest words.
El Cid
If Obama goes to Iraq, there is only one group of people who will be claiming it was due to John McCain tricking him there: the same crazy right wingers who are currently busy trying to distinguish between the really bad Nazi death camps and the not so bad Nazi concentration / labor camps.
Rick Massimo
It’s just the sound of flailing.
Buck
No way in hell Obama needs to go to Iraq until he is the Commander-in-Chief.
That could easily turn out to be just the thing Hillary is waiting for.
Zuzu's Petals
Uh, oh. McCain’s in big trouble on that one.
b-psycho
Funny how military experience has suddenly become such a huge factor now. Wasn’t this the same party that responded to Kerry waving around his experience with “eh, he’s a traitor anyway”?
Frankly I think it’s nuts to assume only people who’ve been in the military can make decisions about war, and frightening when people embrace the idea. Military dictatorships kinda suck, y’know?
maxbaer (not the original)
Why don’t you ask those guys over at memeorandum? They’re quite the history buffs. Scholars, I tell ya.
nightjar
The wingnuts have had only one card to play over Democrats (sometimes taxes too) in the past 30 years, and that’s on national security and the wrongly perceived weakness of dems on this issue. And the GOP has milked it for everything thing it’s worth toward winning elections. I think Obama understands this and will call their bluff and go, and help himself and maybe other dems also.
CFisher
Hail,
Caesar!to the Chief.RSA
I don’t know. . . Doesn’t it seem natural for leaders to be in the back, giving orders? It would be dangerous otherwise!
Zifnab
So if Obama, McCain, or Clinton visit, they should just play it safe by bring along a contingent of red shirts?
And, once again, what is the purpose of taking another round of Iraq tours when we already have the Pentagon, the GAO, the competent sectors of the news media, CENTCOM, Iraqi refugees, domestic and foreign intelligence estimates, and regular briefings from every branch of the armed services openly admitting this continues to be a giant clusterfuck?
No no no! You can’t pull the troops out until you’ve seen it ONE MORE TIME! Who knows how many corners we may have turned? How many missions we’ve accomplished? Any minute now, freedom could break out – with candy and ponies and everything. But if you don’t visit Iraq before November, you’ll never know.
Bleh, whatever.
maxbaer (not the original)
This is the clip I expected. It would be cool if Obama goes on St. Crispin’s Day, gives the speech and wraps things up in Iraq.
Bobzim
The one thing Turdblossom did get right is the tactic of attacking one’s opponent’s strengths.
Adding Jim Webb to the ticket does that without even mentioning McCain.
Obama-Webb in ’08.
w vincentz
Just pathetic! The RNC shows how lame they are for keeping track of the days that Barack hasn’t visited Iraq, and the previous “gaffe” about his great uncle. PATHETIC!
If these clowns can’t come up with anything better and keep going with these spit balls, perhaps they should just fold up thir party and head for the rocking chairs along with the chimp and McInsane.
Dennis - SGMM
Johnson didn’t. Nixon went there four times between 1961 and 1968 but not as president.
OriGuy
In addition to Yalta, Roosevelt went to Casablanca, Cairo, and Malta. Nowhere near a combat zone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_conferences
Johnson went to Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam on October 26, 1966.
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/diary/1966/661026.asp
I think the closest Truman got to Korea was his famous meeting on Wake Island with MacArthur.
Just Some Fuckhead
Who fucking cares if and when some douchebag politician goes to a war zone to score political points? I mean, other than gettin’ Obama blowed up, McCain doesn’t really have a motive here, right?
If we really needed to go over there to find out what was going on then we wouldn’t need most of the shiny brass at the top, would we? And even that assumes some rational basis for going like, ya know, to find out 80% of Americans are wrong about what a clusterfuck it is.
PanAmerican
“I Shall Go to Korea”
Weak sauce from McCain but what else does he have?
ThymeZone
Boo ya.
If they’d just let me pick one thing I could decide this year, this would be it. Is that asking too much? One thing?
Dream ticket. These two can kick the sorry ass of McCain all the way back to Charles Keating’s bungalow in the Bahamas.
laneman
Well, no duh. If you were not wearing a red shirt you lived.
OriGuy
The parallels between Iraq and Agincourt are remarkable. Except GWB didn’t have Shakespeare to put words like those in his mouth, and couldn’t deliver them like Kenneth Branaugh if he did. Of course, Henry V probably couldn’t have either.
LanceThruster
Sen. Obama needs to be careful that he is not instantly deputized/drafted as part of the Illinois National Guard in conjunction with the “Stop-Loss” program.
It won’t be long before it starts looking like that scene from “The Battle of the Bulge” (“The Stop-Loss of the Surge”?) where they were giving rifles to cooks, clerks, and orderlies and sending them to the front.
With the chuckleheads Bush has running the show at the administrative level it would most likely look like the scene from “Enemy at the Gate” where every other soldier was given a rifle and two bullets. (“When the first man falls, the second picks up the rifle.”)
Am I starting to sound like Tweety? (“It’s just like that scene in that movie where…”)
Davebo
And named Kowalksi.
Oh My God! They Killed Kenny!
libarbarian
Because real leaders lead from the front.
Obviously the President isn’t rising at the head of the army like Alexander, but good leaders at least try to see things first hand when possible. Of course, this presupposes the visit is real and not a dog-and-pony show.
Buck
The generals sat
As the lines on the map
Moved from side to side…
libarbarian
Bullshit. Attacking your opponents strengths only works if you are significantly stronger than your opponent. Against an even roughly equal enemy it is a recipe for failure.
Rove is a one-trick pony whose tactics worked in favorable circumstances. He lost 2006 precisely because he kept doing the same thing when the conditions had changed and he doesn’t appear to have learned his lesson.
That little bitch can bring it on.
w vincentz
How many times did Hitler visit his troops in North Africa, western Europe, or the Russian front? How many islands did Emporer Hirohito visit?
These fucktard arguements are so obviously LAME!
Cyrus
ohpleaseohpleaseohplease
I disagree. On the off-chance that he actually believes what he’s saying, it might be an educational experience for him.
libarbarian
And we are supposed to emulate two losers?
Chris Johnson
I’m with SnarkyShark.
All he has to say is “I am not going to waste a minute of our troops’ time on a damn photo op. I trust them, I expect them to fight like Americans and not like terrorists, and I’m going to see them taken care of, not pose them for photo ops.”
He’d have the troops’ vote like that *snap*.
Is it so damn hard to understand that these people have to deal with things as they actually are? Our troops are people who were recently PAINTING OVER MOLD ON BARRACKS for a Bush photo op, then being posed while Bush made crass political ploys.
It’s horrific and obscene and I won’t have Obama jockeyed into doing the same thing to close the ‘retardedly endangering our troops and wasting their time for the sake of a goddamn photo op’ gap.
w vincentz
libarbarian,
Apparently so. If you think beyond the farest stretch of your imagination that “We are WINNING” in Iraq, then go vote for McInsane, as he “will never surrender”.
Duh! Has anyone asked this asshole what his definition of “victory” in Iraq is that he’s so committed to not losing?
Better yet, “If the surge is working, illustrate.”
John Harrold
You know, I think a better question than how log has it been since Obama has been in Iraq would be: can you distinguish between Shia and Sunni Muslims?
Joe1347
The Republicans might be careful for what they wish for with regards to getting Obama to visit the troops in Iraq. Given Obamas ability to attract massive cheering crowds of young people in the USA – wouldn’t one think that Obama could also draw a massive crowd of enthusiastic ‘young’ supporters during an Iraq visit. Scenes of a large (massive) crowd of US soldiers cheering for Obama may end up being McCains worst nightmare. Granted the security situation may prevent Obama from speaking to large crowds – but from what I’ve read – the troops are more supportive of Obama and aren’t too thrilled with McCain.
Another factor would be if Obama goes and Hillary doesn’t – which would continue to cement Obama as the defacto Dem nominee.
libarbarian
OFF-TOPIC (maybe tangentially related).
So I read this on Sullivan (an Obama supporter):
Am I the only one who thinks that Obama is not only not naive not a pussy but actually has a (currently well-hidden) inner “cocky asshole” that will prevent him from ever being like Carter?
nightjar
Nope your not. This latest garbage about Obama as Carter is laughable. Carter was a good man with way to many peculiarities to be President. Among other things, he would personally, as The President, make review the daily schedules for the White House Tennis courts. I can’t see Obama doing anything like that. And what is too “reflexively diplomatic”? Sounds like one of Sully’s famous brain farts.
Brachiator
Republicans may fear the reception that Obama might get from the troops. If Obama stopped off in Europe along the way, the GOP might break out in a sweat if Obama is warmly received there. On the other hand, they are positively drooling with anticipatory delight over the reception that Obama might get from local Iraqis. Even if a receptive crowd shouted, “We love the USA!! We love Obama!!” with “Kurds heart Obama” T-shirts on, the visuals will be interpreted as “Angry Muslim B. Hussein Obama is Cheered by Jihadists.”
This would also cement the image of pitiful Hillary dissed by all those mean sexists. I think that the invitation has been offered to both Democratic Party contenders.
Carter works from a Southern Baptist pacifist vibe. I don’t get any sense that Obama shares this sensibility.
JoyceH
When I saw that John McCain was offering to escort Obama to Iraq so he could ‘learn’ the ‘true conditions’, I think I felt steam coming out of my ears! I’m so glad to see this post and see that I’m not the only person who remembers the infamous Baghdad Market Stroll, and the horrific aftermath.
The saddest part of the whole miserable spectacle was that while McCain and Co (including Graham and Lieberman) where in that market, the vendors, who didn’t realize they were just supposed to be extras in a photo op and thought the visiting dignitaries actually were there to hear about what conditions were like, TRIED TO TELL THEM about how dangerous that market was for the average citizens who don’t travel with helicopter gunship air support – but the self-involved creeps were too busy posing for pictures of themselves haggling over rugs to bother to listen! Then they swaggered up to the cameras to simper about how safe and normal everything is now – they might as well have issued the insurgents an engraved invitation, ‘I say it’s safe – prove me wrong’. And then they swanned off to the Green Zone and took their protection with them. And a couple dozen harmless civilians, the people we claim to be there to protect, paid with their lives for that obscene photo op.
And that’s what John McCain considers ‘going to Iraq to learn first hand’. Disgraceful!
Faux News
My dear Liberal, Kirk only went down with the landing party to score some sweet blue or green alien female ass. Which is something Bill Clinton could totally relate to.
Rick Taylor
Hillary gives McCain a helping hand (via Americablog)
.
Halteclere
200,000+ potential voters in Iraq may be quite interested in what Obama has to say.
libarbarian
WTF are you talking about?
Are trying to say that “McCain is warmonger and McCain visited Iraq. Therefore, people who visit Iraq are warmongers”? Are you saying that you think that the only reason someone could have for supporting a trip is because he thinks it will show how “good” things are or that “the surge is working”?
I have no intention of voting for McCain nor am I any form of pro-war cheerleader. I’m just a person who knows that a good leader should now the conditions of his men. So long as he avoids the bullshit dog-and-pony show then I think visiting Iraq would be a good thing for Obama.
===========================================================
Furthermore, the loser Hitler is a good example of why a leader SHOULD familiarize himself with the conditions on the ground.
During Stalingrad, Hitler, safe and snug and far away from the fighting, refused to believe how bad the conditions were for his men. When Hitler’s generals said that the ground was too frozen to dig foxholes, he dismissed it by saying “When I was in Belgium and the ground froze, we just aimed the artillery down and blasted foxholes out of the ground”. He simply didn’t understand that the conditions at Stalingrad were so much colder than anything he had experienced in Belgium that even blasting out foxholes didn’t work. The ground was rock-hard. He also listened to the sychophantic Goering’s ridiculous over-estimates on the effectiveness of re-supply by air which gave Hitler the belief that the 6th Army could hold on. A visit (though likely practically impossible) could have dispelled these illusions and many more, but he never took one. Consequently the Germans at Stalingrad were told to hold on despite their wretched conditions and the entire Sixth army was destroyed.
polkcountydude
Only posted a couple times before, but I finally have something to say!
I stayed at a small hotel, La Roseraie, in Chenonceaux, France where I think FDR and Churchill met late in the war. I actually stayed in the room next to where they met, and the hotel put a little plaque commemorating the meeting outside the door. However, no one, not even the hotel, knew about the meeting until after the war. I am looking it up now.
Ooops, it seems it was Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill that met there. That actually makes sense since FDR’s health probably was deteriorating much faster then.
Jorge
Obama can counter this very easily by having a meeting with Patreus and other military leaders. He can charge that he isn’t going to endanger the lives of soldiers so he can get some footage for his next campaign commercials when he can sit down with the commanders and get much more complete understanding of the conditions in Iraq. He could also hold a summit with Iraqi leaders off country.
From that he can pivot to ensuring that the nature of his discussion would be about the best way to bring our troops home and not to get advice about whether our continued military pressence will help the Iraqi government take responsibility for itself. He should make it perfectly clear that Bush and McCain have been hiding behind the generals, forcing military leaders to make diplomatic and govermental decisions that are way beyond the scope of their mission.
Then pivot that into a discussion about McCain seeing foreign policy solely through the lens of military action or inaction. After all, McCain spent the first forty plus years of his life living on a military base and for 3 generations his family’s only frame of reference for the world has been conventional warfare. And while that is admirable and to be commended, it also means that McCain is blind to all of the tools we have available to us to win the ideological and physical stuggle with violent jihadism. That is why McCain derides diplomacy and thinks that having a 100 year pressence in an Islamic holyland will help stop terrorism.
Jorge
libar – good WWII knowledge!
Do you think that Hitler’s problem was that he had not see the conditions on the ground or that he didn’t listen to his generals about the conditions on the ground?
I agree that if a leader can see conditions first hand, they should.* But I think it is more important to create an atmosphere were you are getting honest information and are willing to accept it.
*Though often times the real value of these visits is on the morale of the troops and nation
Nellcote
speaking of * politicians:
In her campaign stops, Clinton customarily pauses to praise McCain for his service to the country before going on to criticize his policy positions and cast them as a continuation of the Bush administration. But as she campaigns in South Dakota in advance of its Tuesday primary, Clinton added an extra recollection to her intro. “I have the highest respect and regard for Sen. McCain, he and I have actually gone to Iraq and Afghanistan together,” she said. “And I honor his service to our country and his patriotism.”
At her second stop of the day, she again reminded the audience of her journeys to conflict zones with the Arizona senator.
Pooh
Dude, he’s a baller. You KNOW he has said inner “cocky asshole”.
Dreggas
My response….dodge any sniper fire?
w vincentz
libarb,
Your knowledge of WWII is very good. No dispute there, but this is a different “war” (it’s really an illegal occupation). McCain is baiting Obama, plain and simple.
It’s like saying, if you don’t go to Iraq Obama, then you’re not supporting our troops. This is obviously a bogus challenge, a straw man.
Barack doesn’t need to bring a plastic turkey to the troops in the Green Zone on Thanksgiving (as Chimp did), nor stroll in a kevlar vest through a secured marketplace while escorted by a hundred mercenaries and blackhawks flying over. No. I disagree. A commander-in-chief needs to heed those generals that he sends to theatre, listen to their advice beforehand, and afterwards their deployment.
A real president doesn’t keep an aircraft carrier filled with service members that have been deployed for many months and eager to reunite with their families, like those on the Abraham Lincoln, for an extra day as it cirles off of CA, so that he can fly to the deck for a photo op under a “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner, when subsequently over 3,500 of their military comrades are killed.
A REAL commander-in-chief shows that he cares about the welfare of his troops by placing them in safe locations while diplomatic efforts are implemeted to resolve the conflict politically.
Many in the GOP claim that the Iraq “war” was a “mistake”.
It was neither. However, even if we cede the “mistake” meme, perhaps John Kerry’s words should be repeated, “How do you ask the last man to die for a mistake?”
If it’s a “mistake” now, do you think it will still be a “mistake” in two years? Five? Ten? When will it change from BEING a “mistake” and into something that not only our military sevice members would be willing to die for, but more importantly, that the leader of the troops would be also will to die for?
In summation, Barack Obama doesn’t need to go to Iraq to show he cares about our troops. Caring about the troops will be done when he brings them home safely so they can live their lives in peace, have adequate GI benefits, and no longer be forced to sacrifice their lives for a “war” based on lies, propaganda, deception, and all the other bullshit that the present Commander-in-Chief has squandered their lives for.
slippy hussein toad
Honestly, I think the Obama campaign should ask the RNC whose ass amongst their staff they would like that countdown clock violently shoved into. And what size boots they’d like the shoving to be done with.
But that’s probably why I don’t work for the Obama campaign.
Delia
Um, maybe Obama could go to Iraq with Senator Webb, who was the one who called the trips that congresscritters get “dog and pony shows” to to begin with. Webb could do a better job of telling him what he’s looking at and where the bullshit is and we all know that he’s on the short list anyhow. It should also short circuit Hillary’s latest round of sniper fire recollections.
libarbarian
Barack Obama doesn’t need to go, but I think it could be politically useful, practically useful if he becomes president, and that he has the skills to actually play it to his advantage even though they think they are “baiting him”.
1. Barack isn’t losing any hard-core anti-war voters by agreeing to go but it could help him with moderate to weak anti-war voters.
2. Other than the risk of looking “weak” by “giving in” I see few downsides, and I don’t particularly think he will look all that “weak” and he has the skills to say “My opponent had a good idea. Its important to know the conditions of the people you command and therefore visiting Iraq is something a future commander-in-chief should do. I take seriously my obligation to best prepare myself for the office and its responsibilities” … or something to that effect. I think, if you did it right and had a “serious” visit it would contrast nicely and effectively with the mindless “cheerleader” visits of Bush. Bush has photos of him with a plastic turkey. Obama can have photos of him in penetrating conversations with officers. I really think he could pull it off and come off looking better – like a rational, thoughtful, man who gives due attention to his obligations to look after the welfare of the troops.
3. Besides political benefit, I think a good visit to Iraq would do help him understand the place better – if only a little. I think visiting would at least in some way better prepare him. HE can go in skeptical and doesn’t have to drink the kool-aid and I’m sure he has some pull and can insist on a few non-scripted encounters and such.
No argument, but none of this is necessarily incompatible with a visit.
In Summary: I think he’s got the skills to turn this one around on them and gain valuable practical knowledge as well.
libarbarian
Thats a good point. His commanders tried to tell him but he wouldn’t hear of it …. and they knew better than to push things too far.
Plus, I can’t really assume that Hitler would have reacted rationally to a visit.
Still, I don’t see how being more familiar with the objective conditions of your men can be bad. Its not necessary to visit but, like I said, I think he can pull it off and come out looking good. Play it serious. Get it in the news that he is insisting on some unscripted visits. Get photos of him in serious conversation with officers (although, right now I think he’d be wise to avoid a Dukkakis and leave the combat gear off and just have the taken inside in briefing rooms and wearing a suit and tie). Get photos of troops supporting him and makes sure to take videos of him speaking to the troops and them cheering him and upload them on YouTube.
I know I’m not the only one who sees the potential to make the GOP choke on this pedestrian attempt at a trap.
libarbarian
HA! HA!
Totally true. She will be reduced to explaining how she has already gone before, and for a candidate it is always better to be seen doing something now than to be explaining how you already did it in the past.
I’m telling you. He can make this work.
libarbarian
I hope someone is documenting this. I’d hate for my wisdom to fall like seed on barren ground :).
HRA
Right now – at this moment – there is no need for Obama to go to Iraq. After January 2009, there will plenty of time made available for him to go.
I have never seen a presidential campaign so filled with the silly season even before it begins. McCain decides he’s clever telling Obama he must go to Iraq right after Hillary made her stupid remark to an editorial board in SD. Now Hillary decides this is a good plan for Obama to go to Iraq so she can share some news cycle with McCain. Rove must have called her. Plus riding on McCains tail is cheap and we know she is being frugal.
TenguPhule
But it would give him plenty of chances to be a hero.
Martin
The only point for the President to go to Iraq is to advance the idea that the office has a functional role as CinC. Madison was the last president to actually command troops in a war and there’s no way in hell that any president would ever do so in this day and age. As such, CinC is at best a theoretical power. McCain and the GOP would like us to believe that it’s a practical power, but even Eisenhower never used the authority and instead ended his war. It’s a point worth educating the public about.
Visiting is a nice morale boost for the troops and a decent PR stunt, but that’s all. The PR is only needed because 77% of the public doesn’t believe what the administration tells us is actually happening there, which is, of course, the fault of the President in the first place.
OTOH, there are 160,000+ voters there, so I can’t begrudge Obama for going for that reason alone.
JohnTh
The one practical benefit of having the CiC being expected to visit the front line regularly is that it will make the idiot a little bit more careful about starting wars next time. If Bush knew that he would have spent 6 months as a scout in a Humvee for every war he started he might not have been so keen (this applies less to McCain who is clearly not short of physical courage). That was the great thing about the medieval monarchy – the King could start any war he liked, provided he led the charge.
This rationale however, clearly does not apply to candidate CiCs, especially ones who are campaigning on a platform of less war
liberal
Faux News wrote,
Which reminds me of my favorite Eddie Murphy line: if the bitch is green…
erb
My husband watched news of that press conference with his buddies while in Iraq. They all declared McCain to be “fucking crazy.”
John
Eisenhower rather famously went to Korea.
TenguPhule
100 troops. Three Gunships. Bulletproof vest.
Just a stroll in the park.
Stuart Eugene Thiel
Martin: Actually, Lincoln actively commanded troops in a small episode during (George) McClellan’s peninsula campaign of 1862.