Democratic Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki???

Oh my!  G.O.P. presidential hopeful, Senator John McCain just took a quick punch in the stomach from an unexpected source.  That source is Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who stated “Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic.”  He also called Senator Barack Obama’s sixteen month suggestion the right timeframe for withdrawal.

Wow, I guess that the Democrats may not have had a person in the Whitehouse for eight years, but they seem to have a Democrat in office as Prime Minister in Iraq. 

Senator McCain has been trying to convince us that Senator Obama does not know what he is talking about as far as what to do with Iraq pretty consistently for a couple of months now.  Well Prime Minister al-Maliki seems to think that Senator McCain is the one who does not know what he is talking about.

This is a big change of fortune for Senator McCain who has in polls been repeatedly stated as the candidate that the people think will better handle the war.  That idea looses credibility once one realizes that the people in Iran, particularly the government don’t buy it.

The reason that Prime Minister al-Maliki gave for the need for the United States to get out of Iraq quickly was that the U.S. staying to long would “cause problems.”  That is no mystery I suppose, as not only do some within that country not particularly like the United States, but the surrounding nations are not the biggest United States fans in the world either.

This is a big blow to one of the huge strong areas in Senator McCain’s campaign.  Over the next few days, his campaign is going to have to campaign against the Prime Minister of Iraq as well as Senator Obama to hold that ground.  This is compounded by the fact that Senator Obama is on a trip (I think of it more as a publicity stunt because of the timing) to Europe and the Middle East to prove that he is capable in terms of foreign relations.  He has been over there one day and already there has been a coincidental statement by a leader that says Obama is right and McCain is wrong.

The trip by Senator Obama may only be a publicity stunt aimed at convincing us of something that cannot happen on a last minute trip, but already it is showing signs of being a success. 

I do not see this as Senator Obama doing anything right, I see it as blind luck.  Although, I am not convinced that the government of Iran is not secretly more in favor of Senator Obama as president verses Senator McCain and is just hedging their bets in case Senator McCain wins by not letting the world know it (yet).

The thing I wonder is if the Obama camp had any idea that this news would break today when they scheduled this trip??? 

I suppose that is not probable, but everybody likes a good conspiracy theory!!