An Even Bigger Story

The McCain memory/housing glut story is a lot of fun. And I suspect it will do McCain a lot of damage. But let’s not forget that there’s an even bigger story today in the presidential race — at least in terms of substance and possibly politically too, at least over time. John McCain has staked his whole campaign on opposing Barack Obama’s call for a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. His very support of the notion, to McCain, illustrates his naivete and unfitness for the job of commander-in-chief. And yet today, the US and Iraq have agreed on a “timetable”, using that very word, for leaving Iraq. Reality, the Bush administration and the Iraqi government have jointly endorsed Obama’s position and left McCain a relic. Once the fun of the house story settles down from a boil to a simmer, the Obama camp must pivot off this development.