Iraq - A Bigger Distraction Than We Thought?

For quite a while now, whenever things go well in Iraq, the Democratic party-line response has been "Yeah, but it is distracting us from the War on Terror!"

Little did we know it is actually worse. Much worse.

According to Barrack Obama:

"...the way the war in Iraq has been handled has kept the United States from focusing on key issues like energy policy, global warming and the economy..."

Holy Cow! I had no idea.....

Now far be it for a politician, especially one running for President, to hyperbolize to score a point, but personally I am pretty sure Obama has it backwards.

You see, no matter where you turn nowadays you cannot avoid being smacked in the face with dire global warming news, or its major symptom....'Go Green' bandwagon-itis. Cars & SUVs, product advertisements, TV shows, network PSAs, State Governments, Oil Companies.... Everyone is now officially on-board with the peer pressure to 'Go Green'. Green is the new Black.

So for Obama to imply that Iraq has somehow distracted the nation (even the government) from the topic of Global Warming (or any of his other listed subjects) is pure poppycock. I would probably venture a guess that the subject of the economy garners more media splash than Iraq as well. So much for distraction.

I would offer that perhaps the growth of the Green fad (which has now officially reached Atkins Diet proportions) has distracted the nation (or the media that feeds the nation and its obsessions) from the war in Iraq.

Why run stories on positive developments from Iraq when you could hypothetically run a story about a third grade class writing letters to the President on how they will remember to turn out all their lights to save energy and save the planet (I remember being forced to write just such a letter to one President James Carter when I was that age, as we had some previous energy folderol going on back then), or how evil oil companies are making record profits.

Needless to say, Iraq is not distracting from Global Warming, nor is it distracting from any of those other topics. America was already distracted.

In the words of a sage, but anonymous, Marine:

"America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war; America is at the mall."