McCain's Missed Opportunity

And politically, it would send a dramatic message that McCain is not in lock step with Bush, while once again aligning him with Petraeus.

So far as I can judge from the few public statements McCain uttered while in Baghdad, the senator said no such thing.

When CNN's John King asked him during his visit to comment on Petraeus's "frustration with the pace of political progress," McCain gave a bland response.

"Well," he began, "General Petraeus has actually said he is pleased with some of the progress. All of us are frustrated with some of the progress they haven't made, particularly provincial elections. That needs to happen."

Two days later, it happened.

McCain went on to say, "So, they need to pass the oil revenue-sharing -- the hydrocarbon law. They need to have a better-functioning government in many ways. They have got too many ministries. They have got too many bureaucracies."

McCain concluded with, "I will be glad to stake my campaign on the fact that this has succeeded and the American people appreciate it."

For a man with a reputation for "straight talk," that sounds suspiciously like pulling his punches. My sense is that voters would be more willing to give McCain the open-ended commitment he desires in Iraq if they thought the Iraqis were fulfilling their part of the bargain. McCain had a chance to deliver that message publicly in Baghdad, and, as far I can see, he missed it.

Instead, he twice mistakenly said that Iran was aiding the Sunni-based al-Qaeda in Iraq, not the Shiite militants -- until corrected by Lieberman, thus denting his claim to expertise in the region.

davidbroder@washpost.com