McCain's Interference in Georgia Crisis

It has been stunning, the last few days, with John McCain playacting as President. Obama merely gave a speech in Germany and he was considered presumptuous (that was their phony spin). But McCain has literally thrust himself between the president we already have and an international crisis! He's planning to send his own emissaries! If this isn't presumptuous -- let me end the sentence differently -- it is precisely that.

Even well-meaning supporters of McCain ought to step back, take stock and think about this. This man has gone way beyond a candidate's proper place, to actual interference between warring parties! His bluster may only serve to make matters worse. In his talks 'several times a day' with the president of Georgia, who knows what kind of signals he's sending that would conflict with our country's official stance? It's bizarre.

WaPo: "We talk about how there's only one president at a time, so the idea that you would send your own emissaries and really interfere with the process is remarkable," said Lawrence Korb, a Reagan Defense Department official who now acts as an informal adviser to the Obama campaign. "It's very risky and can send mixed messages to foreign governments. . . . They accused Obama of being presumptuous, but he didn't do anything close to this."

There's a confluence of concerns, including some of McCain's statements in the past about wars that he says are upcoming, about his strident support of wars (Iraq; "Bomb, bomb Iran"), and the general sense that he's simply a shoot-first, ask-questions-later kind of guy. He's already signaled a hard line stance against Russia, which is unwelcome after all we went through in the Cold War years.

It is definitely worth stepping back and asking, Is this really what we want for the next four years? War without end.