McCain's Iraq gambit
John McCain’s suggestion, first floated by his close ally Senator Lindsay Graham, that he and Obama visit Iraq together is smart politics not least because it has got out there that Obama has not visited since 2006. But on a broader level this ties in with McCain’s offer of joint town halls and unmediated Lincoln-Douglas style debates, it puts Obama on the back foot by making him either accept something that plays to McCain’s strengths or erode his post-partisan appeal by turning down or kicking into the long grass an event that the public—and perhaps more importantly, the press—would like to see.
McCain also needs to push Iraq as an issue. This might seem bizarre given how unpopular the war is, but McCain needs to focus public attention on it in an effort to show voters how improved things are there. These improvements are, in large part, a result of the surge; a policy that John McCain led a long and often times lonely fight for in Washington.