Senator Obama's trip to Afghanistan, Iraq and places beyond is getting a lot of attention, but little is likely to change in the campaign or in Obama's outlook. The senator is committed to ending the war in Iraq and placing more U.S. power in Afghanistan. And that will be that because he can't go against the far-left wing of the Democratic Party on Iraq.

That being said, it was good to see Obama with the troops because these guys and gals deserve every bit of attention paid to them. Since Obama is visiting the war zones, the press has to be there, and once again Americans are reminded of the great sacrifice our military people are making and the outstanding job they are doing.

In hindsight, Obama was correct about entering Iraq and wrong about the surge. So he's batting 500 on the issue. John McCain was correct that the war was fought ineptly for years and correct about the surge. So he's batting 750. The one strikeout for McCain, and for most of us, was going into Iraq in the first place.

As "Talking Points" has stated, if we had a time machine we'd find another way to remove Saddam. The ordeal has damaged this country and could have been done another way. That being said, to lose the Iraq war would have been a disaster for the USA. So thank God General Petraeus finally took over.

The far-left loons and America haters who want us to lose in that country are vile and deserve nothing but scorn. The truth is that much of the world doesn't want to confront the jihad, doesn't care how many brutal dictators commit mass murder, and in fact doesn't care about anything but themselves. They sip their lattes and pontificate about a world they know nothing about. They play down the danger from Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran. They believe America is the primary evil in the world.

Now these people are off-the-chart dangerous, but they have a foothold in America. Just this weekend, they gathered in Texas for a hate America convention. And guess who showed up? Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi.

So when deciding who should be the next president, we should all be aware of philosophy and world view. The USA makes mistakes, no doubt, but stands for freedom and justice. The jihadists stand for murder and chaos. It is that simple.

For those too cowardly and misguided to make that determination, there's little left to say. A victory in Iraq puts pressure on Iran and makes it much more difficult for terrorism to operate in the vital Gulf region.

America has paid a steep price for that advantage, but it's a heck of a lot better than having Al Qaeda and Iran defeat us in Iraq. Whoever the next president is must build on the improving situation in Iraq for the good of the world.

And that's "The Memo."

Bill O'Reilly