There’s an old Randy Newman song named “Rednecks” that features the line about going off to college: “Went in dumb; come out dumb, too.” I think that about sums up all these quaint little trips politicians make to the various and sundry conflict areas.

John McCain has criticized Barrack Obama for not going “over there,” so the Democratic nominee has decided to go get his “done gone and seen” credentials.

Like any good project manager, any general officer is going to show off his best and brightest while carefully keeping the unpainted rooms of the house and the smelly kids tucked away in the backyard. This is not an information gathering trip so much as a pitch - Barrack Obama will get the “fund us better” pitch just like John McCain got the “fund us better” pitch and every national politician that goes gets the “fund us better” pitch.

Since Obama is apparently hauling half of the entire U.S. press corps with him there will undoubtedly be the token shots of him buying a rug /talking to the locals with a soulful look on his face / looking patriotic with the troops.

Then we can all pitch in and get him a “I went to Iraq and all I got was this lousy presidency” T-shirt.

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