Obama's Evolution: It's Certainly About A Date
Fortunate timing: Last evening, Sen. Barack Obama proposed a 10-month phased withdrawal plan from Iraq. U.S. troops would begin to start coming home in May, and combat troops would be fully redeployed by the first of April in 2008.
Timing, in politics, is more than everything: it's often the only thing. So why now, and not two weeks ago? Why wait until the week before you formally announce your presidential bid to introduce your most significant piece of Senate legislation to date? Obama's advisers portray it as the natural evolution of his Iraq policy. John Edwards's campaign, for one, retorts that Edwards evolved to that position more than a year ago.
In a June 2006 Obama floor speech, the Illinois senator suggested the idea of a date-certain withdrawal was not "responsible." And, indeed, in Obama's book, published later that fall, he called for troops to start leaving Iraq immediately. He did not provide an end date.
March 31, 2008 strikes us as a pretty particular date certain.
The distinction, an Obama spokesman says, is that Obama never opposed a gradual withdrawal. "He didn't want to do something rigid, like pulling everyone out at once." In that same June speech, Obama went on to say that he hoped U.S. troops would begin to return home by the beginning of 2007. "What I have tried to avoid," he said, "is a date certain that may not accord with the need to maintain stability in Iraq." In November, Obama implied to NBC's Tim Russert that as president, he would set an end date only after consulting the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was speaking in the hypothetical, but he would give no date. It would depend, he said, on "an imperfect judgment" of a number of conditions, including the probability that withdrawal would leave Iraq in total chaos.
Yesterday, Obama didn't split the difference. “The American people have been asked to be patient too many times, too many lives have been lost and too many billions have been spent,” he said. “It’s time for a policy that can bring a responsible end to this war and bring our troops home.” The carrot: if the Iraqis step up and Congress approves, Obama's withdrawal could be suspended.
WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES A $6 MILLION HOUSE LOOK LIKE?
John Edwards – remember him?
He was the vice presidential nominee on John Kerry’s ticket in 2004. He likens himself to be the champion of the poor. Senator Joe "Bloviator" Biden says Edwards doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But I think The Bloviator was talking about his accusation that Edwards was "pushing a recipe for Armageddon in the Middle East" in a recent interview with Jason Horowitz of the New York Observer.
In a rather colorful description, Biden likened Edwards opinions to "fluffernutter." I’m not sure what that is but since it rhymes with peanut butter, it will probably be okay.
Why, even on the day he announced his candidacy for 2008, he was down yonder in New Orleans, decked out in blue jean working duds digging around in somebody’s backyard.
John Edwards wants you to vote for him because he wants to build an America that lives up to its promise – one where we can all share in prosperity at home... (www.johnedwards.com)
I’d especially like to share in that since he just sold his poor little mansion in Georgetown for $5.2 million. I could sure happily share with Edwards in that piece of Americana prosperity.