Vote For Obama To Alleviate Your Iraq Sins? I Ain't Buyin' It!

Michael Hatley has an Op-Ed at the Houston Chronicle entitled "America's Guilt Over Iraq" that discusses how Americans who initially supported invading Iraq should vote for Obama to wash away their evil sins. Obama may or may not have better foreign policy objectives for Iraq, because it's hard to say with the media's attention solely focused on that dickhead Jeremiah Wright and Obama wearing jeans. It's also difficult to look into the crystal ball and see what the reality on the ground will be for Iraq and what U.S. policy should be. Why do you think General Petraeus wanted that 45-day "evaluation" period later on this year? What's troubling about the Op-Ed is the tone of shamelessly spreading the "hope and change" gospel:

But it is what you do when you know a mistake has been made that defines you, far more than the judgment up front. You’ve heard it many times, if you are from Texas – being able to admit mistakes is a virtue. It is hard. It takes strength. And the thing is, you don’t have to do it publicly. You can make amends in the ballot box this November, in private. By casting your vote with a candidate who got it right, and who will use as much caution getting out as we were reckless going in.

Abstract concepts about Saddam wanting to nuke America is what got us into this mess in the first place, and the reality of an ongoing war is not going to magically disappear with abstract concepts about ridding yourself of guilt come election day. Call me a non-religious heathen, because I'm not a believer.

Because my mother will disown me if I don't support Bob Barr, here's my pitch for the guy running on the Libertarian ticket. He seems a lot more grounded in reality and interested in pragmatism than uber-messiah Obama or McCain, who seems to still be fighting the cold war. That's good enough reason for me to vote for the guy, because, reiterating the comment I made at Hot Air yesterday, "he doesn't suck like everybody else".

Addendum: Mike Hatley gets my respect for this article though, where he defends military personnel having extravagant porn stashes. Thank you for supporting the troops, sir!