Palin's most tone-deaf moment of the debate was when she accused Obama and Biden of "waving a white flag of surrender" for wanting to withdraw from Iraq. The argument is simply nonsensical. The Iraqis, and the Iraqi government, want us to leave. If the surge did indeed succeed the way McCain and Palin contend, then we have to respect the wishes of the ostensibly sovereign government in Iraq. The only way "surrender" works as a description is if the surge in fact failed, the government in Iraq is not sovereign, and therefore their wishes shouldn't be respected.
Perhaps more significantly, half of the American people think we should withdraw from Iraq, and more than half think the war was a mistake. Staying indefinitely is not an option, and neither is ignoring the will of the government in Baghdad.
--A. Serwer
