Obama Adviser: McCain May Have Made Georgia Situation Worse

Barack Obama adviser Susan Rice said on Hardball last night that John McCain's belligerent response to the Russian actions in Georgia "may or may not have complicated the situation."

WATCH:

At the Belgravia Dispatch, Gregory Djerejian explains why McCain's position would compound the mistakes President Bush has made in the region.

Ben Smith explains that McCain has long history of aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric:

While virtually every other world leader called for calm in Georgia last Thursday morning, John McCain did something he's done many times over his career in public life: He condemned Russia.

Indeed, McCain, who publicly confronted Putin in Munich last year, may be the most visible -- and now potentially influential -- American antagonist of Russia. What remains to be seen is whether the endgame to the Georgia crisis makes McCain seem prophetic or headstrong and whether his muscular rhetoric plays a role in defining for voters the kind of commander in chief he would be.