McCain's War

For all the discussion of the various Democratic plans to handle Iraq, it's worth saying that they all have the common element of aiming to de-escalate American involvement in that country. John McCain's plan, by contrast, is to pray really hard that the additional forces provided by the surge find a pony. "I have no Plan B. If I saw that doomsday scenario evolving, then I would try to come up with one. But I cannot give you a good alternative because if I had a good alternative, maybe we could consider it now." What's more:

He said that if the Bush administration’s plan had not produced visible signs of progress by the time a McCain presidency began, he might be forced — if only by the will of public opinion — to end American involvement in Iraq.

There are, in short, no circumstances whatsoever under which McCain would end the war on the grounds that John McCain thought ending the war was the right thing to do. He'll end the war, if at all, only in response to unremitting public hostility and his own political opportunism. This, too, is essentially the line David Brooks trotted out in his pro-McCain column -- that there's no quantity of resources that shouldn't be wasted in Iraq no matter how high that's too much to expend on any possible chance of success, no matter how long the odds or how tortured the definition of success.

Comments

I dunno, is this de-escalation or me-too occupy-Iraq-foreverism?

From a NY Times piece:

"Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a “remaining military as well as political mission” in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military."

Posted by ran | April 15, 2007 11:11 AM

ran: It looks like de-escalation, albeit mealy-mouthed and insubstantial de-escalation.

Posted by Leo | April 15, 2007 11:29 AM

it's sad: it obviously took an enormous amount of will power for mccain to survive the hanoi hilton, but it's left him in the position where he assumes will power is all you need.

Posted by howard | April 15, 2007 11:55 AM

McCain is trying to have it both ways in a classic straddle, and maybe a fairly clever one. For the first time he is holding out hope that the war will end in a McCain presidency, while trying to reassure hawks that he won't give up unless he absolutely has to.

Posted by David Tomlin | April 15, 2007 12:03 PM

Its clear that the democratic candidates represent de-escalation compared to McCain. As an ideal however, we should prefer them to favour withdrawal, like Bill Richardson.

Posted by graeme | April 15, 2007 1:18 PM

I've come late to this view, but there really is something bizarre about the thought process here. It isn't just McCain either. These guys don't seem to willing or capable of ackowledging that American power can't do everything, that some things really aren't going to work, or that even if they could, the cost would be too great to make it worth it.

There is an alternative. We just cut our losses and go. If we do that, do I expect a good prognosis for Iraq? Will our interests in the region suffer? Yes and yes, but since neither I nor anyone else (certainly not McCain can come up with a plausible scenario in which we can acheive anything by staying or do anything more than delay these bad consequences, we should just leave. That is plan b.

Posted by Gabe | April 15, 2007 2:11 PM

Well, McCain has never pretended to be an intellectual, and he's certainly proving it now.

Posted by Bruce Moomaw | April 15, 2007 4:34 PM

McCain's clenchjaw antagonism on both foreign and domestic security issues is like the Bush doctrine on steroids. It seems like the man is experiencing constant flashbacks, like Charlie-cum-Muhammad is going to leap out from behind any nearby shrub. He reminds me of a more belligerent Septimus Warren-Smith from Woolf's Dalloway, tilting at every straw jihadist at home and abroad with barking mad rabidity. What a frightening purple hawk Lieutenant WALNUTS! has become; the Straight Talker of McCain-Feingold era politics learned the GOP lesson well: if you want the nomination, guzzle the fucking hi-oktane Kool-AID and belch scalding fire into political discourse: we want WWIII and we want it now. Sorry, kids, Jesus has moved on to a less schizoid little orb.

Posted by Gregorio | April 15, 2007 8:53 PM

Why do you hate America, Matt? Why do you work to weaken our national will? So long as the national will is engorged and powerful, we will be safe and secure!

Posted by MQ | April 16, 2007 3:35 AM