Munich! Munich! Munich!
MUNICH! MUNICH! MUNICH!....Over in Israel today, George Bush got right down to business and compared Democrats to the Hitler appeasers who sold out Czechoslovakia just before World War II. Barack Obama shot back that this was a "false political attack" and that Bush was a liar. Christopher Orr thinks this is great:
I'm struck by how politically foolish this assault appears to be. Bush attacking Obama, and Obama counter-attacking Bush, while John McCain sits on the sidelines, is a disastrous dynamic for the GOP. The more Obama can frame this race as him vs. the most unpopular president in modern history, the easier a time he'll have in the fall.As it happens, McCain didn't sit on the sidelines. He and his pal Joe Lieberman chimed in to say that Bush was absolutely spot on. But I suspect that this is even worse: after all, Democrats are going to do everything they can to promote the "McBush" meme this year, and diving in feet first to say "Me too!" when Bush hauls out artillery like this is just going to make their job easier. If McCain wants to sign on with Mr. 28%, who are we to complain?
On the other hand, Obama's response seemed slightly off to me. "It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel" sounds a little rote, doesn't it? I guess a presidential candidate can't afford to sound unpresidential, but I still think I would have preferred something like a Reaganesque shake of his head followed by "It's always Munich with these guys, isn't it?" There are times when mockery is the best policy.