Obama And Iraq Ctd.

Rubin replies to my earlier post:

In short, [Obama] still promises to end the war, he often repeats his pledge for an immediate withdrawal of forces and his campaign regularly confirms that he is adhering to his position for withdrawal of forces because the surge has not brought about the expected results.

Now, if he has changed his view and has come to recognize that McCain was correct in supporting the surge strategy, or even if he is open to soliciting facts that would confirm this is the case, this would be a remarkable turn of events and news to the entire country, the Democratic primary electorate in particular. No one would be happier than I to see a return to bipartisan agreement on national security starting from mutual acceptance of realities on the ground. But I just see no evidence, not a shred, that Obama has come around and reversed his views. He could clear it up right now in an interview or speech, explain the error of his ways and–with the same graciousness as Andrew–praise McCain’s foresightedness. But he hasn’t done this. So I would love to be as optimistic as Andrew, I just have no basis to be so.

Well I wouldn't expect a presidential candidate to go out of his way to lather praise on his opponent. But I would expect a candidate like Obama, in the general election campaign that is about to begin, to propose withdrawal of troops in a way that acknowledges that we have a more stable situation today than we had a year ago. He has formulaicly stated that he will listen to the generals on the ground. So we'll see soon enough what that means.