Bush in Baghdad

Well, what a surprise — Bush is in Baghdad to meet with the Iraqi PM. And a nice big happy picture of a smiling Bush shaking hands with a smiling al-Maliki on CNN's homepage. No wonder the previously announced video conference had to be canceled — it's not as good a photo-op.

No doubt this trip is meant to reassure the home front that freedom is on the march, etc., but until the President can publicly announce a state visit a month in advance and not swoop in secretly, until he can tour the country instead of staying embedded deep in the Green Zone, and until he can actually stay in country for more than 5 hours and give his host more than 5 minutes notice before he arrives, then this trip is just a rather stupid publicity stunt, and should be reported as such. It doesn't show how much progress we've made — just the opposite.