Washington: For months, Senator John McCain and other Republicans have been criticising Senator Barack Obama for not having visited Iraq in a long time, even running a daily tally that is now well past 900 days. But now that Obama is about to travel there and elsewhere in the region, Republicans seem unable to decide whether that is worthy of praise or an opportunity for payback for Obama's unrelenting criticism of their own policy.
"I'm pleased that he is going to Iraq for only the second time and Afghanistan for the first time," McCain, who last visited the region in March, told reporters aboard his campaign bus on Thursday in Kansas City. "If he was so concerned about Afghanistan and the threat there and the need to send troops, don't you think he should have gone there?"
Earlier in the day, McCain's communications director, Jill Hazelbaker, had dismissed Obama's trip as the "first-of-its-kind campaign rally overseas." But McCain initially rejected that "damned if you do, damned it you don't" approach and sought a somewhat more nuanced position.
"I can only give you my opinion, and I will talk to her," McCain said. "The fact is that I'm glad he is going to Iraq. I am glad he is going to Afghanistan. It's long, long overdue if you want to lead this nation."
Obama's trip is expected to begin in the next few days, with an itinerary that includes Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel. He is also planning to meet with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and make a stopover in Europe.
Later on Thursday, in Grand Haven, Michigan, McCain elaborated on his and Hazelbaker's initial remarks. He differentiated the Iraq and Afghanistan parts of the trip from its other legs, saying that Obama's activities in the other countries could have "a political flavour, to say the least."
| This article on the national political campaigns in the United States is from The New York Times. It was specially selected and prepared by the editors of The New York Times News Service. |
