President Barack Obama has failed again. This time he demonstrated his incompetence when, after nine years of American sacrifice that freed the Iraqi people from a murderous regime and protected them through their first years of democracy, he could not convince Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to allow any US military forces to remain in his country.

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In announcing the complete withdrawal of American troops from Iraq by the end of the year, Mr. Obama declared, "Our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays." Despite the warm and fuzzy World War II-ish spin, it is yet another Obama screw up.

Former Massachusetts Governor and GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney issued the following statement in response to the news, "President Obama's astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq."

Based on our Candidate-in-Chief's track record, there is little doubt that the timing of the announcement and withdrawal are at least partly based on "naked political calculation" but Mr. Romney was wrong in assuming this is an either/or situation. Mr. Obama's "sheer ineptitude in negotiations" is also on prominent display as the administration pushed for months to keep thousands of US troops in Iraq only to have talks irrevocably break down over the issue of giving those troops immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

After almost 4,500 American lives were lost and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent in Iraq, President Obama could not successfully negotiate an agreement that would insure those sacrifices and expenditures were not made in vain. With the complete removal of any American military presence in Iraq, the door is wide open for what Congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) called, "the strengthening of Iran's influence in Iraq with no plan to counter that influence."

No plan indeed. At least not one Barack Obama has the skills to implement effectively.