There is a lot of media attention being given to Barack Obama's trip to Europe and the Middle East, much of it centered around the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's comments stating that he agrees with Sen. Obama's plan for withdrawing troops from Iraq by 2010.  The Obama campaign and many major media outlets are making this seem as if Barack Obama's plan was right all along and is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  This creates a problem for the McCain campaign as it makes it look as if his insistence on "winning the war in Iraq" is based out of a stubborn adherence to the unpopular policies of the current administration.  Nothing could actually be further from the truth and the McCain campaign is making an effort to combat this perception.  By pointing out that the only reason Barack Obama is even able to visit Iraq in the first place is because of the troop surge that John McCain supported and Obama opposed, they are hoping to show that Obama was in reality wrong about Iraq the whole time.  Is this the right strategy to take?  I don't think so.

Almost from the very start of this campaign, I have been a vocal supporter of John McCain.  Most of my friends and relations have leaned democratic and fell in line behind Barack Obama when he finally clinched the nomination.  As such, I have found myself debating the merits of John McCain versus Barack Obama over and over again.  One thing that I have found coming up over and over again, not only in debates between my friends and myself, but also in the national media has been the clear difference between John McCain and Barack Obama in their plans for the war in Iraq.  John McCain has steadily been showing how he backed the troop surge and Gen. Petraeus, hammering away at the fact that the surge has turned the tide in Iraq.  This is a good strategy but I'll point out how to improve it in a second.  Barack Obama has tried to make the case that the American people want to end the war in Iraq, a war that he says is unpopular both home and abroad, is too expensive in this time of economic crisis, and has pulled focus away from Afghanistan.  Barack Obama says that he represents the will of the American people by setting a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.  The point that I have been making in my personal debates, and one I feel that John McCain needs to make, is that McCain's policies are already causing troop withdrawals.  Not only did the troop surge caused violence in Iraq to plummet, but it has also started the gradual independence of the Iraqi military and government and the gradual withdraw of American troops.  Take this article from the AP.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hs-ThQKMSx_4zBsYMixXu0gC2jVAD922CQ400