MIDDAY ROUNDUP

A brewing foreign policy crisis in the former Soviet state of Georgia is forcing its way into presidential politics, bloggers note. Barack Obama will benefit from having both Clintons give speeches at the Democratic convention, liberal bloggers write. And a marketing company’s Obama salute earns ridicule from conservative bloggers.

Russia and Georgia, which have been backed by the United States in the past, are fighting over a separatist province. Up to this point in the campaign, one of the biggest foreign policy debates had been over whether U.S. leaders should boycott the Beijing Olympics even though questions linger over Russia, China and India, writes BJ at Newshoggers. McCain, already critical of Russia’s actions, may not be able to serve as an honest broker in this conflict since his foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann had been a Georgian lobbyist, notes M. Duss at The Wonk Room.

Former President Bill Clinton, who will speak on the Wednesday night of the Democratic convention, will be able to make the case for an Obama presidency far better than any of the non-Clinton veep candidates Obama will select, writes TalkLeft’s Big Tent Democrat. Clinton supporters won’t have much to complain about if Bill and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) indeed headline two of the convention’s four nights, according to Steve Benen on The Carpetbagger Report. But the timing of Sen. Clinton’s speech, scheduled for Women’s Equality Day on the Tuesday of the convention, may spur her supporters to push for a nomination floor vote that Obama wouldn’t want, writes Byron York at The Corner.

A Los Angeles creative agency is urging Obama supporters to throw up a two-handed ‘O’ signal as a “sign of progress,” reports Paul Bedard at Washington Whispers. The agency’s posters look like something straight from Star Trek, according to Hot Air’s Allahpundit. Maybe fervent Obama supporters will start wearing ceremonial clothing, jokes RedState’s Moe Lane. But the while the gesture is “stupid and bad,”