REPEATEDLY MOCKED FOR HIS TIMES COLUMNS, BILL KRISTOL TRIES ... ER, WHAT EXACTLY?

I can't figure out what Bill Kristol is up to in his latest New York Times column, which is about Barack Obama's upcoming speech in Germany:

...I'm wondering if Obama chose the Victory Column as his speech venue because he intends to make the case for ... victory.

There's a precedent for this. As Obama knows, he's been widely compared, especially in Europe, to another young, charismatic Democrat -- John F. Kennedy. Perhaps Obama will choose to follow in Kennedy's footsteps in Berlin.

... Kennedy ... chastised the "many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world." ...

Perhaps Obama -- with the Victory Column at his back -- will also challenge those who think it impossible to imagine victory today. Perhaps Obama will also warn of the temptation of assuming we can somehow avoid confronting the terrorists and jihadists, and those who support them....

You wait for the sneer, the back of Kristol's hand, and it never comes. What's his game here?

Is the column meant to be something like Antony's speech after the assassination in Julius Caesar -- i.e., Kristol is damning his enemy by ostensibly praising him? Is Kristol trying to get liberals to believe that Obama is on the verge of some sort of move to the right (as if we'd ever think of turning to a Bill Kristol column for reliable information on what Obama is thinking)? Is Kristol trying to set (in right-wing terms) a high bar for what Obama is going to say, so he can respond afterward, "Tut-tut -- Obama didn't call for victory" (as if, after the speech, anyone will care what Bill Kristol thinks)?

It's like that damn New Yorker cover, except I'm the rube who doesn't get it. What the hell are you up to, Bill?

The reality, of course, is that Obama wants to get Osama bin Laden (and, of course, he horrified some right-wingers by suggesting that he'd go after bin Laden in Pakistan). And Obama just reaffirmed his belief in combating terrorism:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged steadfast aid to Afghanistan in talks with its Western-backed leader Sunday and vowed to pursue the war on terror "with vigor" if he is elected, an Afghan official said....

The Afghan presidency said Obama's message was positive.

"Sen. Obama conveyed ... that he is committed to supporting Afghanistan and to continue the war against terrorism with vigor," said Humayun Hamidzada, Karzai's spokesman.

Obama has made Afghanistan a centerpiece of his proposed strategy for dealing with terrorism threats....

But, see, Obama doesn't believe in victory. That's because victory is a shibboleth, a right-wing gang sign, that means "endless pursuit of the Iraq War."

Or maybe that's not a good metaphor. Maybe Bill Kristol sees the believers in victory as the AV Club geeks of contemporary politics, and Obama is someone cool he naively thinks might, just might, be able to look past the pocket protectors and be willing to hang out with them.

Er, I don't think so.