I think Senator Barack Obama is smart by talking about Iraq, Afghanistan and Foreign policy now.  By the time October rolls around, Americans will be so UPSET over the economy and lack of jobs they'll tell Senator John McCain politely to "shut up" about war and his heroism.

They'll say -- we're HURTING HERE JOHN McCAIN!! What are YOU going to do about it?

As Senator John Kerry's attempt to push his military experience during his 2004 campaign back fired on him, so shall McCain's.

Americans will see through the game this time.

They are tired of hearing what kind of HERO somebody was almost 40 years ago -- they are more worried about TODAY and what somebody's going TO DO ABOUT IT.

On a side note however, I wish somebody in the Obama camp would remind Americans that President George W. Bush hasn't visited Iraq since the 'surge' has supposedly worked either (according to him and McCain).  I'm also not sure he's even visited Afghanistan yet.

The times Bush has gone to Iraq, it's been to land on a military base, not once did he walk the "safe" streets of Baghdad.  And he's the man that started these wars and has been the 'decider' ever since.

One time Bush went for a photo opportunity during Thanksgiving.  Remember the 'Fake' turkey he carried around that day?

Somebody needs to remind Americans and McCain of these facts.

Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president.

But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.

There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by the first President Bush in 1990. The current president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself.

Somebody should ask President Bush why he waited 7 years to do anything about that executive ban on offshore drilling.  He knew back in 2000 that we had an energy crisis.  Remember his demanding Congress to allow for drilling in ANWR?  You might also remember that until very recently, the Republican Party controlled the Congress since way back in 1996.

Why did they wait for over 12 years?  You guessed it -- Election Day is 3 months away and Americans are angry about gas prices!

I hate to say it but I told ya so!

There may soon be an announcement of a larger withdraw of troops from Iraq at an even faster pace than Senator Barack Obama’s plan. 

The following story will be spread across America’s newspapers tomorrow.  Americans will ‘think’ that we may be withdrawing next year, the bulk of our troops from Iraq. 

Barack Obama is taking heat for hinting that he might refine his 16-month timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. But a forthcoming Pentagon-sponsored report will recommend an even steeper drawdown in less time, NEWSWEEK has learned. If adopted, the 300-page report by a defense analysis group at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., could transform the debate about Iraq in the presidential election.

Expected to be completed in about a month, it will recommend that U.S. forces be reduced to as few as 50,000 by the spring of 2009, down from about 150,000 now. The strategy is based on a major handoff to the increasingly successful Iraqi Army, with platoon-size U.S. detachments backing the Iraqis from small outposts, with air support. The large U.S. forward operating bases that house the bulk of U.S. troops would be mostly abandoned, and the role of Special Forces would increase.

The report's conclusions have been discussed inside Secretary Robert Gates's Defense Policy Board, a body of outside experts….

The reason I said in the beginning of this post, “I told ya so!” is because I warned Americans days, weeks and months ago that the Bush administration and Senator John McCain had plans for September and October, just before the November election.

I wrote a post on TPM on July 8, 2008, commenting on what Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia Prime Minister of Iraq, President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain and the Republican Party may be up to with al-Maliki’s sudden demand for a withdraw date of American troops from his country.

I said “this sudden demand comes before Iraqi provincial elections later this year, and may be a political strategy for the Prime Minister’s campaign to be reelected.  It also comes during Senator John McCain and the Republican Party’s fight to keep control of the White House in November.

Both parties benefit having their voters ‘thinking’ that the war in Iraq is about to come to an end.  Having the news media reporting that there are negotiations going on, discussing a ‘possible’ withdraw date from Iraq just before Election Day, can only benefit those currently in power or are hoping to be.

The Iraqi people will think that the Americans will finally be leaving soon.  Americans will think that our troops will be coming home soon.
 
The Republican Party and Senator John McCain will say, “The Surge worked – we have a Victory in Iraq.””

On March 4, 2008 I said, “Think maybe they are spreading this surge through September for political reasons?   I do.   What better news for McCain in late October to be able to say, “The Surge, which I supported and Obama/Hillary did not – WORKED.   Thousands of troops are on their way home and should be home by Thanksgiving and Christmas to spend time with their families.””

I wrote that,”General Petraeus (not sure if this will be his replacement instead or not) is supposed to return to Congress to make an Iraq ‘surge’ report in September or October.  He will most likely report a plan to withdraw some more troops.
 
President Bush of course, will give a press conference saying the ‘surge worked’. "We are bringing 20,000 troops home to their families by Christmas time."  Take note however, bringing home 20-30,000 troops will put us back to the level we were at in January of 2007.  The President, the GOP and Senator John McCain will benefit from all of it.  They will be able to claim the economy is getting stronger, tax cuts worked, rebates worked.  They’ll claim the ‘surge’ worked, troops are coming home.  We are winning in Iraq.”

The Republican Party will be using our troops as political tools to win continued control of the White House.  They know the economy is a very big issue right now with Americans, they aren’t stupid.  They also ‘think’ that if they can bring back the National Security – Iraq – Afghanistan issues, they will be on the winning side in November.

I have news for them.  If they think by ‘hinting’ that troops under a Republican administration would also be happening in 2009 is going to help them, they are wrong. 

little bit of ‘leaked’ news that Newsweek has reported will actually end up ‘helping’ Senator Barack Obama in November instead.

Senator Barack Obama when debating with Senator John McCain can now use this report to his advantage.
 
When McCain attacks Obama for his lack of experience, Obama should use this report as reinforcement for his plans to get out of Iraq in 16 months or less.  Obama can claim that even the experts now say it’s a workable plan and that, he (Obama), had the ‘vision’ and ‘foresight’ to see that fact, and Senator McCain did not.