Man of Refinement By JAMES TARANTO Nineteen days ago, we speculated about Barack Obama that he would soon abandon his promise to bring about an American defeat in Iraq:
Could it be that Obama is planning to pivot? That is, what if he goes to Iraq and declares upon his return that he has been persuaded that the surge has made a difference, that things are going much better, and that he is now convinced victory is both possible and crucial? Last Thursday, just as we had put our last pre-July Fourth column to bed, Obama himself said more or less exactly this. As the New York Times reports on its blog The Caucus:
"I've always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed," he said. "And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I'm sure I'll have more information and will continue to refine my policies." Later the same day, he called a second news conference, where he insisted that his position on Iraq had not changed:
"We're going to try this again," Mr. Obama said, standing behind a lectern that was hastily set up on the lawn of a park here. "Apparently I wasn't clear enough this morning on my position with respect to the war in Iraq." . . . "Let me be as clear as I can be, I intend to end this war," Mr. Obama said. "My first day in office I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in and I will give them a new mission and that is to end this war-- responsibly, deliberately, but decisively." There is a word for ending a war responsibly. It's called "winning," and it is what George W. Bush and John McCain--though they have at times disagreed about tactics--have agreed on all along. It's good to see Obama adopting, or at least seeming to adopt, the Bush-McCain position.
Maybe Obama has always been for victory in Iraq, as he now claims; or maybe he was and remains pro-defeat and his latest pronouncements are merely a verbal smokescreen intended to obscure his actual views so as to appeal to people on both sides of the debate.
But if his "refinement" is real, it is an example of change we can believe in.