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In an effort to highlight Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) lack of national security experience, the Republican National Committee (RNC) on Wednesday unveiled a clock on its website that is counting the days since the Democratic front-runner last visited Iraq. “Despite lacking the experience and leadership to be commander in chief, Obama has done shockingly little to educate himself firsthand about the war in Iraq,” said RNC Chairman Mike Duncan in a statement. “Obama’s failure to visit Iraq, listen and learn firsthand, and witness the surge’s progress demonstrates weak leadership that disqualifies him from being commander in chief.” The clock shows that it has been 871 days since the Illinois senator visited the country. The RNC’s criticism comes amidst recent calls from presumptive GOP nominee John McCain's campaign that the Arizona senator and Obama visit Iraq together. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a senior McCain surrogate, first floated the idea on Sunday. “I would recommend to Sen. McCain that they both go together,” Graham said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” ”Go to Iraq, get a briefing from our generals, talk to Prime Minister [Nouri al-Maliki] about the way ahead, the way forward, because a lot has changed since 2006.” McCain told The Associated Press on Tuesday that such a trip “would be fine” with him. “I would also seize that opportunity to educate Sen. Obama along the way,” he said. The Obama campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. |
