Reich on McCain
By Michael J.W. Stickings
John McCain supports a troop increase in Iraq.
Robert Reich tries to get inside his head: "I think McCain knows Iraq is out of our hands – it’s disintegrating into civil war, and by 2008 will be a bloodbath. He also knows American troops will be withdrawn. The most important political fact he knows is he has to keep a big distance between himself and Bush in order to avoid being tainted by this horrifying failure. Arguing that we need more troops effectively covers his ass. It will allow him to say, 'if the President did what I urged him to do, none of this would have happened'... In the end, McCain alone will be able to escape blame."
(Slate's John Dickerson makes a similar point in an interesting piece on five key challenges McCain faces as GOP frontrunner for '08. TNR's Isaac Chotiner disagrees with him.)
An interesting analysis. McCain certainly seems to be spending a lot of time covering his ass lately, eh?
John McCain supports a troop increase in Iraq.
Robert Reich tries to get inside his head: "I think McCain knows Iraq is out of our hands – it’s disintegrating into civil war, and by 2008 will be a bloodbath. He also knows American troops will be withdrawn. The most important political fact he knows is he has to keep a big distance between himself and Bush in order to avoid being tainted by this horrifying failure. Arguing that we need more troops effectively covers his ass. It will allow him to say, 'if the President did what I urged him to do, none of this would have happened'... In the end, McCain alone will be able to escape blame."
(Slate's John Dickerson makes a similar point in an interesting piece on five key challenges McCain faces as GOP frontrunner for '08. TNR's Isaac Chotiner disagrees with him.)
An interesting analysis. McCain certainly seems to be spending a lot of time covering his ass lately, eh?
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
6:29 AM
1 Comments:
I agree that McCain's idea seems to be motivated by politics, rather than realism. However, is it too late to reverse the legacy of Rumsfeld? What if American troop levels were substantially increased? Might that not make a difference? And isn't it right to support a strategy that might allow the US to fulfil its responsibility in Iraq, even if troop reductions and withdrawal is inevitable in the medium to long term?
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Anonymous, at 3:36 PM
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