The PR Surge Is Working for McCain - More Americans See "Success" in Iraq

Submitted by John Stauber on

Politico notes that U.S. public support for the war in Iraq "has reached a high point unseen since the summer of 2006. ... According to late February polling conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 53 percent of Americans -- a slim majority -- now believe 'the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals' in Iraq. That figure is up from 42 percent in September 2007. The percentage of those who believe the war in Iraq is going 'very well' or 'fairly well' is also up, from 30 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent today. ... Half of self-identified independents polled now believe the United States should 'keep troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized.' ... The uptick in public support is a promising sign for Republican candidates who have been bludgeoned over the Bush administration’s war policies. But no candidate stands to gain more than John McCain."

Main Source: 
Politico.com, March 12, 2008
Topics: 
Iraq
Politics
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Comments

ohohbriannaoh replied on

I am not suprised by these results at all. Whether it be McCain or Clinton or Obama, none of that really matters. As long as it is not George W. Bush. For the first time Americans are having higher hopes for the Iraq War, because for the first time they are seeing a future that is not Bush. They see new ideas on the table from new minds. Right now, everyone's biggest PR boost is that they are not George W. Bush.

McCain has an added plus, because he has had time to travel to Iraq several times in the last year or so. (As the two democrats fight their own war over here.) He has just returned from one trip where he says something to the effect of "I have seen great progress." That is comforting to everyone. It is nice to hear from someone we could potentially elect president. Positivity is always a good thing. Hope is a strong weapon as Americans lie suffocating in the pile of what is Bush's presidency.

Mutternich replied on

"Hope is a strong weapon as Americans lie suffocating in the pile of what is Bush's presidency."

I'm afraid the question isn't which candidate will best dig us out of that pile, but which one will pile the least fresh stuff on top of it.

If McCain gets elected it will be refreshing, for a few weeks at least, to see his face instead of Bush's in the nightly news, but the relief won't last long. McCain will simply continue the same disastrous policies Bush is pursuing now.

As for Clinton and Obama, this video interview with Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World' Most Powerful Mercenary Army, provides some shrewd realistic analysis.