Obama Succeeding at Making Positions Up as He Goes Along

It appears Barack Obama is already laying the groundwork to change his policy on withdrawal from Iraq. He said today he could "refine" his plans based on what he finds out from his visit to Iraq in the near future. On Iraq, as he has done on Jeremiah Wright, flag lapel pins, submitting to public funding of his campaign, etc., Barack Obama believes in just making it up as he goes along - and he appears to be getting away with it:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said Thursday he would “slow the pace” of U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq if that was needed to ensure their safety.

At the same time, Obama said his intent, if elected president, is to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months.

Republicans pounced, arguing it was a clear shift in position for the Democratic presidential candidate who made opposition to the Iraq war a defining part of his primary campaign. Obama’s campaign responded by saying Obama had always said he would listen to commanders on the ground in determining his position.

Obama made the remarks during a second press conference in North Dakota Thursday after his comments earlier in the day about refining his policies on troop withdrawals after meeting with military commanders in Iraq provoked a flurry of news stories and criticism from Republicans.

“I have always said that I would always reserve the right to do what’s best for America’s national interests, and if it turns out that we had to in certain months slow the pace, because of the safety of American troops in terms of getting combat troops out, of course we’d take that into account,” Obama said.

He then said his intention was to pull one to two brigades from Iraq each month, which he said would remove all U.S. troops from Iraq in 16 months.

Republicans said the comments indicate Obama is willing to flip on any position to help win the presidency, even “the defining issue” of his primary campaign.

"Obama’s Iraq problem undermines the central premise of his candidacy and shows he places political expedience above everything and anything else,” said Alex Conant, a Republican National Committee spokesman.

A spokesman for GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) said Obama had reversed his position and was adopting the same stance as McCain.

“Now that Barack Obama has changed course and proven his past positions to be just empty words, we would like to congratulate him for accepting John McCain’s principled stand on this critical national security issue,” said spokesman Brian Rogers in a statement.

Now that Obama has dispelled Hillary Clinton and John Edwards by out-pandering them for the far-left anti-war vote, he is rapidly moving to the center to co-opt some of John McCain's appeal to conservative Democrats and Independent voters. He is essentially trying to make them say that he is not that different from McCain on a whole range of issues.

Obama's strategy of making up the positions as he goes along to appeal to whomever he needs to at a given time seems to be working. John McCain must define Obama as the far-left liberal that he truly is BEFORE Obama is able to cement the idea that he is "not that radical." If Americans come to believe Obama is a centrist, the race will be over for McCain. Time is of the essence for McCain to define Obama and quickly.