Photo Op or Listening Tour?

You didn’t have to be paying terribly close attention in order to see a bit of a double reverse volley from the McCain campaign this week re: Obama’s overseas trip. For some time now, Senator McCain and his surrogates have been hectoring Barack Obama for failing to visit Afghanistan and taking too long between trips to Iraq. As I pointed out in a previous column, I find the original argument faulty, as almost all of these trips by any candidate are junkets of questionable value, and the McCain team was just setting a trap for Obama anyway.

The Illinois Senator hadn’t even finished loading his luggage on board Messiah One, (sorry… I couldn’t resist) when the two prong trap was sprung. First, McCain surrogate Jill Hazelbaker leapt into action.

“Let’s drop the pretense that this is a fact-finding trip and call it what it is–the first of its kind campaign rally overseas,” … During a later appearance on MSNBC she also called the trip “one giant photo opportunity…not designed to inform his world view.”

She was clearly referring to the entire trip when I watched this interview, not just the European portion. At that same time, however, Senator McCain took time out on the Straight Talk Express to give a different message.

“I’m glad that he is (traveling overseas) and pleased that he is going to Iraq for only the second time and going to Afghanistan for the first time,” McCain said. “I can only give you my opinion, and I will talk to (Hazelbaker). But the fact is, I’m glad that he’s going to Iraq and I think it’s - I’m glad that he’s going to Afghanistan. It’s long, long overdue, if you want to lead this nation and secure our national security.”

This is a tactic we’re seeing from both campaigns far too often and it’s beginning to get tiresome. Send out a surrogate to deliver the dirt while the candidate waves it away and takes the high road. It was a bit of a relief to see that Senator McCain dropped the portion of the speech where he talks about Obama not holding committee meetings on Afghanistan, and that’s probably good timing, considering that we recently learned that McCain’s record on this score isn’t exactly spotless.

It turns out that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has attended even fewer Afghanistan-related Senate hearings over the past two years than Obama’s one. Which is a nice way of saying, McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, has attended zero of his committee’s six hearings on Afghanistan over the last two years.

The defense from the McCain campaign and his supporters regarding Hazelbaker’s comments is that Obama’s trip to Iraq and Afghanistan wouldn’t be a photo op excepting the fact that he’s still sticking to his “sixteen month troop removal plan” before even going on his “fact finding mission” this summer. I find these protestations unsatisfying in two regards.

First, they conveniently ignore the fact that Obama has repeatedly stated that the sixteen month goal is a target which may be modified as matters progress on the ground. Second, and more to the point, is the denial of the fundamental principle that the civilian government gives the orders to the military - not the other way around. The current Commander in Chief has issued directives that our military forces achieve victory in Iraq, regardless of how victory is being defined this month or how long it takes. That’s what they are doing, and in an admirable fashion. However, if we have a new civilian Commander in Chief next year who directs that the goal is now to achieve the fastest, safe draw-down of troops as possible and to turn over control of the country to the Iraqi government, that is what the generals will have to accomplish. Agree or disagree, if the majority of Americans wind up electing Obama, it’s also the “will of the nation” and it is not the military’s place to countermand that.

As a side note, this is a gambit by the McCain campaign which may still either pay off large dividends or backfire completely on them. Should Obama seriously stumble under the massive media glare during his international appearances, it could hurt him at the polls. However, if he pulls off the media aspect of this trip with aplomb and Americans are treated to a series of images of Obama reviewing the troops, meeting with foreign leaders and looking presidential in international settings, it could close the perception gap Americans seem to have about the two candidates’ relative strength on foreign policy and undercut McCain’s campaign efforts.