Via Captain Ed...

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Barack Obama has apparently reversed himself on what John McCain
called a 3 AM moment, in reference to Hillary Clinton’s primary
campaign ad. Originally, Obama had decided to castigate both Georgia
and Russia over the outbreak of hostilities in South Ossetia, even
while Russian bombs fell on Georgia itself. Today, Obama has changed
his tune, following McCain’s lead in demanding that Russia cease its
aggression:

"Obama called for direct talks among all sides and said the United
States, the U.N. Security Council and other parties should try to help
bring about a peaceful resolution.
“I condemn Russia’s aggressive actions and reiterate my call for an
immediate ceasefire,” Obama said in a statement.
“Russia must stop its bombing campaign, cease flights of Russian
aircraft in Georgian airspace, and withdraw its ground forces from
Georgia.”

Here’s his original statement:

“I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an
immediate end to armed conflict,” Obama said in a written statement.
“Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint and to avoid
an escalation to full-scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must
be respected.”

McCain, however, initially responded sooner than Obama and with a
great deal more accuracy:

"Today news reports indicate that Russian military forces crossed an
internationally-recognized border into the sovereign territory of
Georgia. Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its
military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian
territory. What is most critical now is to avoid further confrontation
between Russian and Georgian military forces. The consequences for
Euro-Atlantic stability and security are grave.

The government of Georgia has called for a cease-fire and for a
resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international
mediators. The U.S. should immediately convene an emergency session of
the United Nations Security Council to call on Russia to reverse
course. The US should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put
diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course it has
chosen. We should immediately call a meeting of the North Atlantic
Council to assess Georgia’s security and review measures NATO can take
to contribute to stabilizing this very dangerous situation. Finally,
the international community needs to establish a truly independent and
neutral peacekeeping force in South Ossetia."

McCain obviously took time to determine first that Russia had indeed
attacked Georgia before demanding restraint from the victim. It’s
apparent that McCain has a better grasp of the situation and
understood its ramifications as events unfolded. Obama issued a
boilerplate statement that generically demanded that everyone start
getting along, and had to modify his stance as his 300 foreign-policy
advisers had a chance to tutor him on the conflict.
I’d rather vote for the man who gets it right and has spent years
studying foreign affairs, warfare, and American strategic needs than
the man who makes it up as he goes along.

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McCain is right; and Obama proved himself unprepared and unsuited to
answer the call.