" You can't truly stand up for Georgia," Obama said tonight, "when you've strained our oldest alliances." It's worth unpacking this statement. First, it's a clear indication that, despite what some bloggers say, Russia's invasion of Georgia truly is, yes, a world-historical event that has wormed its way into the presidential campaign and seriously troubles foreign-policy thinkers on both sides of the aisle. Second, Obama makes no sense. The implication is twofold: that McCain, who speaks with Mikheil Saakashvili daily, has not "truly" stood "up for Georgia." Please. McCain has so stolidly backed our democratic ally during this crisis that some of Obama's cohorts accuse him of warmongering. How has Obama stood up for Georgia? He started by blaming it along with Russia for Putin's invasion. That didn't work. So he has since shifted direction - toward McCain. The second implication is that McCain has "strained our oldest alliances." How has McCain done this? Obama does not say. Perhaps he means to suggest that McCain's backing of the Iraq war led to a semi-crack-up of the NATO and E.U. alliances. The crack-up happened, sure. But it is not hard to see that Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder had just as much a role in that crack-up as George W. Bush and John McCain. And now Chirac and Schroeder are gone. They have been replaced by pro-American leaders who have sought to rebuild their country's relationships with the United States. And McCain has given numerous speeches calling for the United States to do more to shed its unilateralist image. Besides, contra Obama, you really could stand up for Georgia even if you have "strained our oldest alliances," which, as noted above, isn't the case anyway. One country can stand with another alone or as part of a united front. If the front the West presents to Russia today isn't exactly unified, it is due to reasons of internal European and German politics that neither John McCain nor Barack Obama can control. Obama should stay clear of this sort of attack on McCain. It's a dog that won't hunt.