What if we were in the middle of a national election, something happened that changed the game overnight, and the media yawned? I wish that were a hypothetical, but that was the situation this weekend when Iraqi Prime Minister told the German magazine Der Speigel that Obama was right about troop withdrawal."Obama is right when he talks about 16 months," Maliki said. "Assuming that positive developments continue, this is about the same time period that corresponds to our wishes."
This was out all over the web Saturday -- I saw it a little before noon. Fun things happened after that...
McClatchy Newspapers:
The White House press office, which usually offers a daily dose of schedules, presidential proclamations and explanations of administration positions, Saturday offered something very different--a Reuters news service story explaining how Iraq's prime minister backed Democrat Barack Obama's troop exit strategy.
Oops.
White House reporters were sent a story explaining "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months. In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.
[...]
ABC News reported that the story was intended for a more select White House audience, not the general press corps, but an employee hit the wrong button.
But that wasn't the game changer. That was just a incompetent White House doing the only thing it does well -- screwing up royally...
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