Obama With Some Sanity on Maliki

Was I ever waiting for this:

Asked if he agrees with some fellow Democratic senators if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should be removed from power, Obama said the problem “goes beyond” who specifically is in power.

“We could have one, two, three, four replacements for Maliki,” Obama said, “but if the underlying political dynamic hasn’t changed, then we’re not going to see progress. … We know that by putting outstanding U.S. troops on the ground, that they will, on the short term, reduce violence. But unless we can get the various factions to work together, we’re not going to see the kind of progress that’s needed.”

The only false note there is the idea that we can get the factions to do anything, but Obama has discussed the need for Iraqis to take control of the reconciliation before, and the rest is first-rate, so I'll grant him that.

Look, Maliki is not the problem. The problem is the multitude of things George Bush has done to create this situation, and criticizing a figurehead like Maliki, which could result in his running into the arms of other nations like Iran, is pointless because it suggests that there's a government to begin with. There's now rumors of a military coup in the country, no doubt engineered by the GOP spin team designed to bring Iyad Allawi back to power. And then everyone will suggest that we need to give the new Prime Minister a chance to succeed. At least Obama is calling the Administration on this crap, instead of Hillary Clinton, who is enabling it.

(By the way, if there is a coup, who's to say we won't be dealing with Prime Minister al-Sadr before too long?)