Enough About Iraq -- Let's Talk About Me

The senators had reason for their flagging interest in Petraeus. The House stole the Senate's thunder by having Petraeus testify Monday. As if to rub it in, Petraeus greeted both Senate committees yesterday by re-reading, virtually word for word, the same testimony he read to the House.

But this dearth of new developments left senators free to do what they do best: talk about themselves. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who on Monday abandoned his flirtation with a presidential run, used all seven of his allotted minutes making a speech. So did Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). So did Obama.

Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) rebuked his colleagues for their wordiness. "I will take my question-and-answer time to ask questions, if it's all right with the committee," he said primly. He then consumed a minute and 10 seconds to ask his first question.

Some senators sounded as if they were forming a travel club. Boxer displayed a blown-up photograph of her meeting in Iraq with the general. "I will never forget it," she said. "We were sitting in an armored vehicle."

"I was in Ramadi, about nine days ago," boasted Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.). "When I was in Iraq and had a sit-down with General Odierno," offered Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a frequent Iraq traveler, played tourism promoter: "I would suggest that both Senator Kennedy and Senator Byrd go over there."

As usual, nobody could outdo Biden. "The helicopter was grounded because of a windstorm," began his dramatic account.

The senators, more than their counterparts in the House on Monday, had the confidence to challenge the popular general. Some challenges came from the usual suspects, such as Boxer, who requested that Petraeus "take off your rosy glasses." But tough words came from Republicans, too. Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) argued that "it is not enough for the administration to counsel patience until the next milestone or the next report." Hagel scolded the general: "Where is this going? Come on."

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) produced the most striking admission of the day when, taking off his reading glasses and staring down gravely, he asked: "If we continue what you have laid before the Congress here as a strategy, do you feel that that is making America safer?"

"Sir, I believe that this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objectives in Iraq," Petraeus replied.

"Does that make America safer?" Warner pressed.

"Sir," the general said. "I don't know." But Warner got nothing near the attention of the presidential candidates. When Obama entered the hearing room, midway through Lugar's opening statement, the cameras turned immediately to him . He posed thoughtfully, stroking his temple with his index finger and his chin with his pen. After a while, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) grabbed an empty seat next to Obama and struck up a conversation -- scoring a mother lode of photographs.