That was then:

* In 2003 and 2004, he spoke out against the war on the campaign trail;
* In 2005, he called for a phased withdrawal of our troops;
* In 2006, he called for a timetable to remove our troops, a political solution within Iraq, and aggressive diplomacy with all of Iraq’s neighbors;
* In January 2007, he introduced legislation in the Senate to remove all of our combat troops from Iraq by March 2008.
* In September 2007, he laid out a detailed plan for how he will end the war as president.

Bringing Our Troops Home

Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months. Obama will make it clear that we will not build any permanent bases in Iraq. He will keep some troops in Iraq to protect our embassy and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda.

This is now:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Thursday backed off his firm promise to withdraw combat forces from Iraq immediately and instead said he could “refine” his plan after his trip to Baghdad later this month. Earlier, a top Obama adviser had said that the senator is not “wedded” to a specific timeline…David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, began backing off during remarks Wednesday on CNN’s “Situation Room,” telling guest host John Roberts that Obama has actually advocated “a phased withdrawal, with benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet, that called for strategic pauses, based on the progress on these benchmarks and advice on the commanders on the ground.”

Meanwhile, in what would be laughable, except that the MSM will cover it seriously, Senator Obama attacked the McCain campaign for daring to notice the mother of all flip-flops, and then he added a back flip for good measure. AP:

Democrat Barack Obama says he’s always been open to refining his Iraq policy but blamed Republican John McCain’s campaign for suggesting “we were changing our policy when we haven’t.”…He said what he learns from military commanders on his upcoming trip to Iraq will refine his policy but “not the 16-month timetable” for withdrawing U.S. troops from combat in Iraq.

Senator Obama’s flip-flops make those of Senator Kerry look highly polished and professional by comparison. Pity that the media, so in the tank for the Illinois Senator, really don’t seem to care too much.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 pm and is filed under Democrats, General, MSM, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.