Trifecta

While the mainstream media is still playing catch-up, Jonathan Martin in Politico makes a compelling case for the current news on "terrorism" -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran -- all strengthening Barack Obama's hand with the most auspicious timing possible:

Barack Obama’s long-awaited and much-hyped trip overseas, in large part intended to overcome a perception that he’s not up to the job of commander-in-chief, seems to have come at the perfect time as recent events in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran have played into his message.

Chuck Todd was on MSNBC today saying the GOP is, actually, panicked by Obama's trip overseas:



And while covering for Andrew Sullivan, hilzoy slams home the point that Iraq Prime Minister Maliki's interview statement supporting Obama's approach to the Iraq War completely undermines any remaining rationale for the McCain campaign:

McCain's entire rationale, as a candidate, turns on Iraq and related issues, like terrorism and (to a lesser extent) Iran. What else is he going to run on? His grasp of the economy? His health care proposals? The widespread popularity of the Republican brand? He can't even run on the rest of foreign policy: McCain's approach to foreign policy has always lacked any kind of integrative vision; he treats problems in isolation from one another. This means two things: first, McCain really doesn't have an overarching foreign policy vision, and second, for him, Iraq has always been The Big Thing, and as a result, everything else got slighted...

...Again, McCain would have to choose: does he say that Iraq's government has made some real political progress, and is capable of making its own decisions? In that case, he should accept its wishes. Does he say that he can disregard its requests on matters of Iraqi sovereignty? In that case, he undercuts a lot of his claims that the surge has enabled real and lasting progress in Iraq.

As I see it, Maliki's statement is all upside for Obama. It neither poses risks for him nor presents him with problems. But it's a minefield for McCain. And this will, I think, become clearer as time goes on, when people begin to ask him these sorts of questions.

Chris Bowers thinks it may be endgame happening right now:

I am trying to think of the last time that Iraq was actually bad for Republicans and good for Democrats according to the pundit elite.

And, to top it all off, Obama is expected to have a million people attend his campaign rally in Germany on Thursday, which would make it the largest political rally in German history. Think about that for a moment: an African-American is heading up the largest rally in German history.

Obama is changing the world, and the world likes it. That is something McCain can never match. This trip should not only give Obama a bump in the polls, but position him extremely well for issue debates in the fall. This overseas trip could really be checkmate in the election.

Fingers crossed.