No wonder President Obama used only his second Oval Office address to get the Iraq war so publicly off the domestic debate table this week, just nine weeks before his first midterm elections.
He even flew VP Joe Biden over for another quick tour of duty in Baghdad to underline for the public (media) the occasion of the end of U.S. combat operations -- officially, at least, since 50,000 U.S. troops remain there.
Wizard Gary Langer, the chief numbers-crunching consultant over at ABC News, has been tracking the effect of unpopular wars on presidential approvals. Not surprising, not good.
Harry Truman (Korea) lost 25 points during his conflict. Lyndon Johnson (Vietnam) dropped 32. And George W. Bush (Iraq) plummeted 43. Even without formal wars, foreign incidents can pummel pols back home; just ask helpless President Carter about the Iranian hostage crisis that helpfully elected Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Read more : Obama's moves on Iraq and Afghanistan as 2012
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