Barack In Iraq - Talk Before Action

The Iraqi government rolled out the red carpet for Barack Obama on his first trip to the war zone in more than two years. Obama was tight-lipped about his meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, saying only:

I have had a wonderful visit so far and excellent conversations, but we have several more meetings over the next two days and at that point, I'll give you a general assessment. ...

Maliki had a lot to say to Der Spiegel magazine. He reportedly endorsed Obama's 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. Maliki has since said there was a "transcription error"; he wants the U.S. out by the end of 2010.

Fine, call it a timetable, timeline, "time horizon," timeout. If Obama is elected President, he should embrace the plan proposed during an earlier unpopular war – declare victory and get the hell out.

Obama hopes his swing through the Middle East and Europe will burnish his national security and foreign policy credentials. The major television network anchors and correspondents are fawning tripping over each other, but the unprecedented media coverage may turn off the very voters he needs to reach.

A new Rasmussen poll found that 78 percent of Republicans believe reporters are trying to help Obama win the election. No surprise there since "liberal media bias" is a GOP talking point.

Surprisingly, 21 percent of Democrats think the mainstream media is in the tank for Obama. Still, it's no big deal. But it's a very big deal that 50 percent of "unaffiliated" voters – swing voters – think the traditional media are giving Obama preferential treatment. Swing voters will take with a grain of salt favorable coverage of Obama's interaction with military commanders and foreign leaders.

A recent New York Times-CBS News poll found that only 57 percent of white voters think it's "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that Obama would be an effective commander-in-chief. So, good news out of Iraq may not allay the doubts of the 40 percent of white voters who say it's "not too likely" or "not at all likely."

They say there's no such thing as bad press but too much press may be giving Obama some outside help he doesn't need.