Truth Missing from Campaign

The rhetorical pretzel Obama tied himself into over the question of the success of the "Surge" in Iraq was almost comical.

Given the undeniable fact that Iraq has been largely pacified, Al Quaeda defeated, and the government taking over the country's security, Obama found himself in the uncomfortable position of acknowledging the success of the surge without appearing to give any credit to those who implemented it, namely President Bush and General Petraeus.

Because Obama himself was a vocal opponent to the surge strategy, while McCain was an ardent supporter who also claims to have been a key architect.

Thus the pretzel. Violence may be down, but there are still fundamental problems in Iraq. There's no way to know what would have happened had his (Obama's) ideas been implemented. The reduction in violence is due to the Sunni efforts to stop the insurgents in their areas and Al Sadr standing down his Mahdi militias and the leadership of Maliki. Not because of the aggressive strategy change implemented by American troops in cooperation with Iraqi troops under the leadership of General Petraeus, who was given the tools to accomplish the mission by President Bush.

So the whole marketing image of Barack Obama continues to crumble. He is not a new kind of politician. He is not interested in uniting the country. His version of unity says those who support him are united, while those who don't are divisive and maybe a bit racist.

Reminds me of Communist China. The Chinese are taught from birth that the government is their daddy and momma. As long as they follow the rules and are good little socialists, they will enjoy peace and harmony. Those who disobey the government are disrupting that harmony and must be re-educated until they understand.

Obama's rhetoric often sounds disturbingly Chinese.