First Door on the Left

Our next president met with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai today. Johnny McCain and Rudy Giuliani went to a baseball game.

Obama Meets Afghan Leader and Discusses Terrorism

Karzai and Obama

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 20 — Senator Barack Obama met with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan for nearly two hours on Sunday and “conveyed that he is committed to supporting Afghanistan and to continuing the war against terrorism with vigor,” an Afghan presidential spokesman said.

The meeting, which continued over a traditional Afghan lunch of chicken, mutton and rice, was conducted in a “very friendly environment,” the spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said.

Mr. Obama and the two other senators traveling with him — Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska; and Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island — reaffirmed the United States’ bipartisan support for Afghanistan. And Mr. Karzai asked that the senators pass on the “immense gratitude” of the Afghan people to their constituents and the American public, Mr. Hamidzada said at a news briefing after the lunch.

In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Mr. Obama said: “We have to understand that the situation is precarious and urgent here in Afghanistan. And I believe this has to be our central focus, the central front on our battle against terrorism.”[..]

Mr. Obama’s visit to Afghanistan is part of a weeklong tour that will take him to Iraq, Israel and Western Europe in an effort to build impressions, and counter criticism, about his ability to serve as president in a time of war.

Mr. Obama arrived in eastern Afghanistan, near Pakistan, on Saturday to get a firsthand look at the region where American troops are feeling the brunt of increased attacks from militants infiltrating the border. In selecting Afghanistan as an early stop in his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Mr. Obama was seeking to highlight what he says is the central front in the fight against terrorism.

“Losing is not an option when it comes to Al Qaeda, and it never has been,” Mr. Obama told CBS News. “And that’s why the fact that we engaged in a war of choice when we were not yet finished with that task was such a mistake.”

Kudos to His Honor the Mayor for getting Johnny McCain out of the house on a weekend. He usually spends the weekends at one of his wife’s houses recuperating.

To begin the weekend Johnny made a guest appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien where he feigned having a heart attack and keeling over. (The official line is that he was faking falling asleep because, you know, he’s so damned old.) Notice how the audience cheered. Nobody appeared to be awfully concerned that perhaps the old codger was not pretending…

One would think that at least one member of his Secret Service detail would have come running to his aid.

(More here.)

Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Democrats, John McCain, presidential election