Saturday, July 05, 2008
Timetable for Reversal
In what is turning out to be an ongoing series, even Barack al-Sadr Obama cannot explain his own postion on Iraq...
Obama is facing some blowback for his remark that he may alter his position on Iraq once he visits and hears the recommendations of the commanders in the field:
Barack Obama said Saturday that he was surprised at how the media has “finely calibrated” his recent words on Iraq, and denied that he intends to anything but end the war if he is elected.
“I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off by what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement,” the expected Democratic presidential nominee told reporters flying with him to Missouri from Montana. “I am absolutely committed to ending the war.”
On Thursday in North Dakota, Obama said that “I’ll ... continue to refine my policy” on Iraq after an upcoming trip there. With a promise to end the war the central premise of his candidacy, the Obama campaign has struggled over the past two days to push back against Republicans and others who say his recent statement could be a softening.
Why would he need to “refine” his policy? His greatest claim to fame is that he was opposed to the war all along (the fact that he was not in a position to vote for the Iraq War Resolution in 2003 notwithstanding). That sounds like a fancy way of saying, “I was against the war when popular opinion turned against it and I predicted that the Surge would fail, but it didn’t; so now my ass needs covering in a big way.”
In two news conferences on Thursday, Obama said any refinement of his position on Iraq wouldn’t be related to his promise to remove combat forces within 16 months of taking office, but rather to the number of troops needed to train Iraqis and fight al-Qaida. But he also acknowledged that the 16-month timeline could indeed slip if removing troops risked their safety or Iraqi stability.
It says a lot that he makes Kerry look like a rhetorical mastermind. He is absolutely committed to the 16-month withdrawal deadline...unless, you know, he doesn’t think we should; then it will not happen. Behold the return of “nuance”. It is almost as if Obama is starting to figure out why set timetables in war are a really stupid idea.
“I was surprised by how finely calibrated every single word was measured,” Obama said. “I wasn’t saying anything that I hadn’t said before.”
Well, you are running for President of the United States and all. I cannot imagine why anyone would actually listen to anything you say and try to figure out what it means. What’s the big deal, really? Can’t the man just enjoy his waffle? Quit picking on him already! Questions about his Iraq policy should be off-limits in this campaign!
The beauty of this whole thing is that he has set a time-bomb for his own potential Administration. If he does not have all troops out by May of 2010, his own base will crucify him. If he does get them out and Iraq dissolves into civil war and genocide--which McCain predicts would happen if we withdraw recklessly--the Democrats will have proven yet again that they cannot be counted on to handle national security. I can think of no better political ad for the Republicans in the mid-term election in 2010 than video stills of the US Embassy in Baghdad being evacuated from the roof with helicopters as desperate Iraqis try to climb on.
Military planning by calendar is strategically as well as politically foolish. Whatever mistakes Bush has made, he always understood this concept.
I enjoy studying the Left’s reaction to these “refinements” of the Holy One’s evolving positions. It seems that Bill Press over at HuffPo is nervous about this and thinks that Obama is moving to the center too fast (they are actually deluding themselves; he cannot portray himself as a centrist because his pathetically thin record betrays his far-left idealogy); DailyKos thinks that this is a case of the media blowing it out of proportion (damn conservative media!); and Robert Fantina got savaged on a Democratic Underground forum by commenters for pointing out the obvious fact that Obama has “switched gears” at a “rather frightening speed”. Heretic! Heretic! Persecute!
The Democrats screwed up badly by letting this Lightbringer lightweight become their nominee, in my opinion. This will get more and more obvious with time, trust me. The only thing that worries me is that the Republicans are so disorganized that they could still lose to the single worst presidential candidate the Democrats have ever run.
H/T: Newsmax