Obama’s Surge Purge

Posted on July 15, 2008

The stumbling, clumsy tumble towards the center continues with Obama.

The presumed Democratic nominee replaced his Iraq issue Web page, which had described the surge as a “problem” that had barely reduced violence.

“The surge is not working,” Obama’s old plan stated, citing a lack of Iraqi political cooperation but crediting Sunni sheiks – not U.S. military muscle – for quelling violence in Anbar Province.
The News reported Sunday that insurgent attacks have fallen to the fewest since March 2004.

Obama’s campaign posted a new Iraq plan Sunday night, which cites an “improved security situation” paid for with the blood of U.S. troops since the surge began in February 2007. It praises G.I.s’ “hard work, improved counterinsurgency tactics and enormous sacrifice.”

This must be a part of his “change you can believe in” platform.

Ed Morrissey:

The campaign says they regularly update the site to “reflect changes in current events”. However, the Obama campaign has yet to acknowledge that the changes came from a strategy he opposed and that he predicted would fail. Even more remarkably, he hasn’t changed his policy to incorporate the “changes in current events”. Instead, he just retooled his demand for timetabled withdrawals with a sop to the troops.

What changes will we see on the Obama site when he returns from Iraq? And will we have to compare caches in order to discover them, as the Daily News apparently did?

Pamela Gellar:

Is he the inspirational juggernaut of the early primaries, the man who promised “change we can believe in” and a new era in American politics? Or is he one more politician whose actions often contradict his words?

Put another way, what does he believe in?

Damned if I know.

Dan Riehl:

Obama claims to have judgment you can trust. I have to assume he’s talking to our enemies in the Middle-East given the judgment he displayed on the surge.

Sister Toldjah:

You may think you can run from your statements criticizing the surge, but you surely cannot hide.

Abdul at Hyscience:

What a clown! This guy must think the center-right side of the blogosphere is as stupid as the naive fools who support him.

The Other McCain:

This childish and impotent gesture won’t work, as anyone familiar with Internet technology could tell you. The old stuff can still be found through Google caches, and No Quarter has some of the Messiah’s former prophecies of doom in Iraq.

Don Surber:

Finally, we know what Obama means by change. Might want to clean up that wine he just spit out.

Rick Moran:

Where will all this dizzying manuevering get Obama? Because the press will not call him out for this monumental flip flop – this Mother of All Campaign Backfills – it is not likely he will be hurt very much at all. More likely, the disillusioned left will grumble a bit and still turn out for him in November. Those on the far left always have Ralph Nader or Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney. For the center, there is only the here and now in politics which is what Obama is counting on with this incredibly cynical move.

Exposing Obama for the lightweight he is will be the challenge for McCain. Hopefully, Obama will continue to lead with his chin on issues like Iraq and make the Republican’s job easier.

Susan Duclos:

How can a person that has not been to Iraq in 919 days, has never spoken one-on-one with the commander on the ground in Iraq and has not yet gone on his fact-finding mission to Iraq, actually state what his plans for Iraq are?

Also see Marc Ambinder

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post