Is Iraq A Priority For President Obama?

Obama’s Iraq Dilemma: Whether To Rejoin A War He Said Was 'Dumb' (+video) -- Brad Knickerbocker, CSM

As the situation in Iraq worsens, President Obama is forced to consider reengaging militarily in a region marked by sectarian strife. He never thought the US should be there in the first place.

As a young state senator from Illinois in 2002, Barack Obama was harshly critical of what looked like an impending US-led invasion of Iraq.

Speaking to an anti-war rally on the day Congress authorized war in Iraq, Obama called that prospect “dumb” and “rash.”

“What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in [the Bush] administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne,” he said. “What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income – to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war.”

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My Comment: For President Obama .... he knows that the crisis in Iraq has the potential of making him "eat his words" .... and it shows in his administration's response to the growing crisis in Iraq. Even though Iraq is "burning" .... US Secretary of State Kerry was more focused this weekend on 'climate change'. For President Obama .... it was a long weekend vacation in California.

I know that there are other issues that the White House must be focused on. I also accept the fact that President Obama may need a break once in a while .... (I know that in my case I certainly do need a break .... and I am not the President). But what makes the US Presidency unique is that optics is everything .... and on the international scene everyone is now seeing a US President who is disengaged and uninterested. I personally think that this is a wrong perception .... I suspect that President Obama is actually focused 24/7 on the Iraq crisis .... but then again .... for everyone else the optics are saying something else.