Likewise, Obama’s actual Pakistani policy is to stop interfering in Pakistan’s internal affairs by propping up Musharaff. And this is “horrifying”? Get real, dudes.

As for Pakistanis being upset about this kind of thing, well, it sure doesn’t result in any support for Jihadist parties, which suffered even worse defeats than Musharaff. The Pakistanis don’t like Al Qaeda using their country as a safe haven any more than we do. If they tolerate Bush doing this kind of thing, I don’t think they’re going to be hostile to Obama.

Unfortunately, I expect that you’re entirely right that Pakistan policy will have no importance for most voters, and Obama’s position on this will probably do what he hoped it would: win him credibility with skeptical voters as someone willing to use force. It could hurt him to the extent that it blurs the lines between his and Bush’s policies, undermining the “change” theme, and it could also feed into an inexperience critique if the media draw attention to the general disapproval of such tactics by regional experts that the McCain people can use as a bludgeon.

I think what Rich is saying is that Obama is patriotic, but that his sincere love for America as a melting pot (if I can indulge in an old cliche to make the point clearly) trumps attempts to disrespect him as a leader because he doesn’t wear a flag pin. (To cite one example.)

In other words, his Kryptonite is what disarms his opponents.

Obama may have issues with the electorate, but I very much doubt that his position on Pakistan will be one of them. Americans like leaders who are willing to strike militarily, regardless of what the State Department says. That position might hurt him with a few leftist Democrats, but it won’t bother Republicans and Indepedents — and they’re the votes he will need.

I think McCain will have an uphill battle.

Regarding Pakistan, as I understand it Musharraf was informed while this strike was in progress, but not before, by which time it was too late for him to do anything about it. I don’t know how most Pakistanis have received the news of the strike, but I suspect it feeds into the already deep dissatisfaction with Musharraf. The majority’s dissatisfaction with him extends to us, and their objections to his relationship with our government deepens their hostility to him, so any incident that highlights his dependence on Washington or our government’s willingness to ignore Pakistani sovereignty will likely intensify the pre-existing resentments.

And it occurs to me that Obama’s rhetoric “about changing the mindset that got us into Iraq” is profoundly disingenuous. The old mindset that got us into Iraq is the belief that we can blow up and kill people in other countries whenever we think it is in our interest to do so.

And yet Obama stakes out a foreign policy position based on exactly that mind set, which politically and electorally is sensible. From what i can tell blowing up and killing foreigners is the cool thing to do in politics.

But I find it galling that Obama is winning this primary on the perception of a difference in foreign policy that doesn’t exist and that in the general election will be a liability (of course it should be noted that Clinton is just as bad if not worse than Obama on this score).