Bob CollinsIf you’re in a person in Libya, would you be able to tell today who’s in charge of the United States foreign policy? Sen. John McCain has made a surprise trip to Libya today and it’s not to defend the U.S. strategy there.
McCain, who is a political rival of President Barack Obama, traveled to Benghazi today and a few minutes ago chided the United States — and Obama — by declaring “the U.S. should do more.”
It’s unusual for such a high-profile politician to so flagrantly upstage a president on the international stage in a war zone, but the usual complaint that that’s bad for troop morale doesn’t apply here because there are no U.S. troops in Libya … yet.
Neither the White House, nor the State Department, nor the Department of Defense have issued a statement on McCain’s mission, a possible indication McCain is using the Libyan stage to try to pressure Obama into widening the new war.
“For the United States to withdraw our unique offensive capabilities at this time would send the wrong signal,” McCain said earlier this month when the initial U.S. foray into Libya was turned over to NATO.
