For all the fuss about General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker testifying to the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees yesterday, I have to say I wasn't impressed. The problem in Iraq, as everyone including Petraeus admits, is not one that will be resolved militarily, so having the big military guy there doesn't help answer the real question of how we get out. As Sen. Kerry says, the military, including General Petraeus, are implementers of a strategy they didn't craft.

The problem with Petraeus is that he's the wrong guy to answer the real questions.

So where are the crafters? They stick this military guy up in front of the Senate and the world to talk about some military progress that doesn't address the larger issue. But it feeds the media and allows the administration to put someone in front of the American people who can actually point to some kind of accomplishment, and hope no one notices how badly Bush and company continue to screw things up.

I guess if nothing else, it was a good opportunity for the American people to see the presidential candidates at work. Rarely does the Senate get this much attention in the traditional media, so at least something good came out of the hearings. McCain, of course, still doesn't get it. Not only does he ignore the larger issue, but he continues to misrepresent the Dem position by insisting it calls for precipitous withdrawal when both Obama and Clinton and every other Dem who's spoken out about Iraq has specifically stated that their plans involve getting out in an orderly and measured manner, and helping Iraq and the neighbors to resolve the political differences. It's what Sen. Kerry has been saying for years, and it's the only responsible plan. McCain, of course, bypasses all that, and doesn't seem to want to look beyond a few military successes. Because he's got nothing else.

According to the McCain strategy, we can continue to have military successes and keep the General's champagne bottle in the back of the fridge for a hundred years at a cost of billions of dollars a week. That still won't get us any closer to resolving the political issues.

The problem with Petraeus is that he can't answer the real questions about how we resolve this. The problem with McCain is that he can't either.

I'm not saying Gen. Petraeus shouldn't testify before Congress. He should, and it was important to hear his testimony. But the problem isn't his to resolve, and the media and John McCain are missing that overarching reality.

So, who is the right person to fix Bush's massive blunder? Certainly, failed Secretary of State Condi Rice, who was laughingly floated last week as a potential VP pick for McCain, won't tell us anything we haven't heard from this administration before. It's going to take a Democratic president to shift the focus to the real threat and get us out of this quagmire, which is costing the American people three billion dollars a week and not making us any safer.

As Senator Kerry told Larry King last night, a lot of questions were asked yesterday, most were not answered. I don't think we'll get our answer until January.

So while yesterday didn't accomplish much except to give the American people a false sense of complacency and the media something to talk about for the next few days, at least we got to see the Senate. That's cool, I guess.