Matt Price: Howard goes in hard over Os(b)ama

[Swagman]

Matt Price: Howard goes in hard over Os(b)ama
THE SKETCH
February 12, 2007

SO the Prime Minister reckons Osama will be bar(r)acking for Obama.
It's a mighty big call. Given the mess George W. Bush has made of foreign policy in Iraq and the Middle East, you suspect Osama bin Laden's preference might be a tweak to the US Constitution to allow the President to run for a third term. Bush, after all, has presided over a bull market in the terrorist recruitment business.
But Howard's strident comments about the next presidential election are also remarkably brazen. What if Barack Obama manages to secure the Democrat nomination and win office in 2008? Howard could still be in office in Australia, seeking to establish a relationship with the terrorists' preferred candidate, administration and party.

"If I was running al-Qa'ida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats," was the PM's explosive declaration on the Nine Network yesterday morning.

Obama is supporting a bill to withdraw troops in March next year; there's no chance of that happening while Bush is in office. But the PM's point is sharp and unequivocal - the young wannabe and his party get the terrorists' preferences on the al-Qa'ida how-to-vote card

snip

Whether Howard's foray into armchair commentary on American presidential politics was spontaneous or carefully considered, it portrays an agitated PM going in very hard, very early in this very intriguing election year.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21210032-601,00.html