Bloodless Coup

McCain Was Screwed Before Maliki Spoke

I think Hilzoy is right here. And if the press is paying attention the larger trend, I think Maliki's comments could be even worse for McCain than they at first appear.

First the Bush administration started appeasing negotiating with Iran, as Obama had suggested; then McCain essentially adopted Obama's position on Afghanistan; then the Bush administration agreed to what they called a "general time horizon"for withdrawing troops. (Wait: now it's "Joint aspirational time horizons"!) McCain and Bush seemed to be adopting Obama's positions all over the place. For a risky, inexperienced novice, Obama seemed to have gotten a lot of things right. And for an experienced, serious old hand with a command of foreign policy, McCain seemed to be spending a lot of time playing catch-up. And every time Obama gets to say, in effect, 'Hi, John! What took you so long?', McCain's only winning message gets that much weaker.

And of course the White House's ham-handed pressure to get Maliki to recant his words isn't exactly helping the Arizona senator.