Will Obama be Snubbed Like Pelosi on Iraq Visit?

In a story widely ignored by the so-called mainstream media, Time.com reported May 19th that the arrival of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who visited Baghdad that week with a congressional delegation, was received with "a collective shrug of the kind you might expect from Republicans catching a glimpse of her somewhere in McCain country."

Pelosi is something of a nonentity to average Iraqis. If they know who she is at all, she is generally seen as an antiwar caricature figure, someone whose views on U.S. troop withdrawals are widely considered unrealistic.

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The lack of popularity of Pelosi's views was evident in the fact that her first day on the ground Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not make an effort to see her.

Pelosi may not get much more warmth from the American military leaders she plans to meet either. Pelosi argued against sending additional surge forces to Iraq, a plan overseen by Gen. David Petraeus that is now widely credited with reducing the levels of violence in Iraq. Moreover, Pelosi made waves on Capitol Hill in November by saying U.S. troops were torturing detainees - an accusation generally not taken well by men and women in uniform of any rank.

The question must be asked, will Obama, whose far-left position is much like Pelosi's, decidedly anti-war, if not anti-military, be snubbed as well?

It will be interesting to see how Obama, the virtual poster child for the "General Betray Us" MoveOn.org crowd, will be received by those in the cross hairs of liberal attacks. Someone needs to tell Obama (who seems to be about a year behind on Iraq) that the "Surge" has succeeded. Military leaders know that Obama has stated his Iraq policy without consultation and without having a clue to the national security secrets known only by the president and the Pentagon.

Too, it will be interesting to see how troops and Iraqis respond when Obama shows up with his mainstream media posse in tow; this is the same mainstream media who have thus far completely ignored stunning successes in Iraq. Yes, this is also the same mainstream media who purposely ignored Sen. John McCain's last visit to Iraq, which happened to be his eighth visit to Iraq since 2003.

In any event, Obama is taking quite a political gamble. It the visit goes badly as I think it will, only the press who will be there recording the disaster can help Obama save face.