Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who apparently has a blog, ran into John McCain on Sunday in ABC’s green room. As Reich explained it, they had an interesting chat. (via Atrios)
I asked him why he continued to call for more troops for Iraq when he must know it’s a political non-starter. He said he thought it important for the morale of the troops.
McCain gives every impression of meaning what he says, which is one of his greatest assets. But I simply can’t believe this one. What’s most important for the morale of the troops is knowing they’ll be coming home soon, not hearing some politician say we need more troops when there’s no possible chance of that happening.
I think McCain knows Iraq is out of our hands — it’s disintegrating into civil war, and by 2008 will be a bloodbath. He also knows American troops will be withdrawn. The most important political fact he knows is he has to keep a big distance between himself and Bush in order to avoid being tainted by this horrifying failure. Arguing that we need more troops effectively covers his ass. It will allow him to say, “if the President did what I urged him to do, none of this would have happened.”
I obviously wasn’t there, and as far as I can tell, McCain hasn’t commented on his chat with Reich. But if this account is accurate, is it possible that McCain is this callous?
On the notion of morale, why, exactly, would any American in uniform feel encouraged about an increase in troops in Iraq? For one thing, there aren’t any additional troops, which means more tours for those who’ve already been serving. I have a hunch that won’t help morale; it’ll hurt it. For another, even if McCain wants the troops to believe thousands more on their way, won’t it be worse for morale when they learn these people aren’t coming?
As for the political strategy, Reich argues that McCain’s plan for 20,000 additional troops is simply a 2008 calculation. In a way, this makes a lot of sense — it’s a way for McCain, who’s been to Bush’s right on the war for years, to create a discernable distance between his approach and that of the White House.
Except I suspect it won’t work — it’s too clever by half. McCain’s basic pitch will be too convoluted to be coherent. He’ll essentially tell voters, “I agreed that Saddam was a threat, I agreed that Iraq had WMD, I backed the invasion, I urged the administration to ‘stay the course,’ and I rarely said a word about the recklessness, incompetence, corruption, and mismanagement. But nearly four years into the conflict, I wanted to send more troops, Bush didn’t, so none of this is my fault.”
No wonder McCain feels the need to read from a script; the guy is lost in the woods.