Some lessons at the approximate midpoint of Sen. Barack Obama's week overseas:
The success of a surge is something Obama can't really account for comfortably.
But that probably won't matter -- since for purposes of the national debate, he's essentially ended the war.
Barack Obama's frenetic travel schedule has triggered one very big move: the campaign's foreign-policy debate -- particularly on Iraq -- is now on Obama's turf, and John McCain's complaints about media coverage won't change that.
Sen. John McCain has found a voice in criticizing Obama over the surge (not to mention one in ribbing the media).
But that probably won't matter, either (and the reason is only tangentially related to the media coverage Obama is getting).
Obama has moved on -- and he's taken the campaign debate with him.
He has grown in stature through his foreign trip -- and only partly because he's been received like a world leader by his hosts (how many people ride shotgun with the king of Jordan?), been cast as a president by the news coverage, and has acted like a president by remaking the discussion over the issue that continues to pose the biggest single threat to his candidacy.