Media roundup: Obama’s Iraq problem

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has been criticised this week for "flip-flopping" over his position on the Iraq War. Obama originally promised to initiate a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq over a 16-month period, but recent speeches indicate he may take a different approach if elected president in November.

George Packer writes in the New Yorker that the situation "on the ground" in Iraq today is entirely different to when Obama originally told voters about his plans for troop withdrawal. As a result Obama should not be criticised for adapting: "In matters of foreign policy, flexibility is a President’s primary defence against surprise." Packer writes that the improved conditions in Iraq can be attributed to "President Bush’s surge, the change of military strategy under General David Petraeus, the turning of Sunni tribes against Al Qaeda, the Sadr militia’s unilateral ceasefire and the great historical luck that bought them all together at the same moment." So this is no time for a withdrawal.

Obama needn’t be bashful about admitting his Iraq policy was flawed - he simply needs to adjust his presentational style when talking about the war: "Obama has shown… that he has a talent for candour… One can imagine him speaking more honestly on Iraq… he could say 'That was always a goal, not a blueprint. When circumstances change, I don’t close my eyes - I adapt.'"

Conservative writer Pejman Yousefzadeh is not so forgiving on the Redstate political blog. Obama is "just another Democratic party politician. And because Obama has been selling his politics as some extraordinary new batch of leadership and policies, the more people realize that Obama is just another Democratic party politician, the more pronounced their sense of disillusionment with him is likely to be."

Noted Obama fan and Atlantic columnist Andrew Sullivan disagrees, saying that unless America’s Commander-in-Chief has a flexible approach to Iraq the country is doomed: "Any potential president who is uninterested in the facts on the ground in calibrating his Iraq policy would be another George W Bush."

Josh Marshall, writing on Talking Points Memo makes a similar point. Marshall says the media don’t understand the "distinction between strategy and tactics. Presidents set the strategy - which in this context means the goal or the policy. And if the policy is a military one, a President will consult closely with his military advisors on the tactics used to execute the policy." In this case the tacticians have told Obama that a 16-month withdrawal may be unworkable.

FIRST POSTED JULY 4, 2008