Obama "Refines" His Pledge for Iraq Withdrawal

It's official:  Barack Obama doesn't have a solid position on anything.

After spending the primaries beating the drum of withdrawal, Obama now says he will "refine" his position on Iraq.

Obama: "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...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." (NY Times)

But that's a far cry from what he said in April at the Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate in Philadelphia:

ABC's Charles Gibson: "And, Senator Obama, your campaign manager, David Plouffe, said, 'When he is' -- this is talking about you - 'When he is elected president, we will be out of Iraq in 16 months at the most. There should be no confusion about that.' So you'd give the same rock-hard pledge, that no matter what the military commanders said, you would give the order to bring them home?"

Obama: "Because the commander-in-chief sets the mission, Charlie. That's not the role of the generals. ... Now, I will always listen to our commanders on the ground with respect to tactics, once I've given them a new mission, that we are going to proceed deliberately, in an orderly fashion, out of Iraq, and we are going to have our combat troops out. We will not have permanent bases there. Once I have provided that mission, if they come to me and want to adjust tactics, then I will certainly take their recommendations into consideration. But, ultimately, the buck stops with me as the commander-in-chief."

Remember, this is hardly the first radical change we’ve seen from Obama in recent days.  On any number of issues from the 2^nd amendment to public financing, Barack Obama has changed course to suit to whatever is politically expedient at that moment.

If reversing your positions and breaking promises to the American people is just ‘refining policies,’ then Barack Obama might be the most refined candidate in history.  Right next to John Kerry.