General Petraeus began presenting his much-anticipated progress report on Iraq today. After Congressmen spent 45 minutes pontificating on what they expected out of the report (and criticizing the full-page ad from moveon.org that appeared in the New York Times) the general started to speak — and found himself stymied by a broken microphone. After a flurry of unproductive activity, Congressmen declared a five-minute recess to address the technical difficulties. As one CNN commentator noted, the moment was a perfect metaphor for the present political situation: a general unable to speak before a Congress unwilling to listen.
Check in with The Daily Tar Heel later in the week for analysis on the impact of General Petraeus’ speech.

New York Times ad from moveon.org

-Liz