Games people play

I was surprised, and quite pleased, to hear about U.S. President Bush's impromptu visit to Iraq for Thanksgiving. I say "impromptu" because, despite the weeks of advance security planning, the actual decision was last-minute, right down to the decision to actually land Air Force One. From the evening news, it was clear that none of the soldiers on the ground knew he was coming (the reaction to his arrival was spontaneous and heartily positive). While it's no secret that my political leanings are more conservative (I support the war effort), I still think it was a classy move for the commander-in-chief to visit the battle zone for the holiday.

It was a bit disconcerting to hear of all the back-and-forth commentary about the reasons for this trip. Comments ranged from "first campaign stop" to "copycat of Hillary", and so on. God forbit someone gets a spur of the moment (even months ago) idea to visit somewhere; then gets called a copycat just because some other dignitary happens to get the same idea. Clearly, there's no way to know who had the idea first (though my suspicion is that the president's lead-time for security purposes would be longer), but does it really matter. Who cares who moved first, or what the motivation was, or what the ramifications will be. Can't we all accept that both parties wanted to do something special for the troops?