Regarding this link…

“Obama affords himself some wiggle room on Iraq.”

I do think the overblown media and blogosphere coverage of this story compared to what Obama actually said, was wildly over the top.

However, I do think this is the first to step in an inevitable process whereby Obama’s Iraq position will inevitably become indistinguishable from McCains. As I responded to Gerryf in a comment recently:

For an understanding of Obama’s real Iraq withdrawal policy, pay no attention to what he says. Pay attention to what Obama advisor Samantha Powers told a UK interviewer last March:

“He will, of course, not rely on some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator,” she said at one point in the interview. Power downplayed Obama’s commitment to quick withdrawal from Iraq on Hard Talk, a program that often exceeds any of the U.S. talk shows in the rigor of its grillings. She was challenged on Obama’s Iraq plan, as it appears on his website, which says that Obama “will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.” “What he’s actually said, after meeting with the generals and meeting with intelligence professionals, is that you – at best case scenario – will be able to withdraw one to two combat brigades each month. That’s what they’re telling him. He will revisit it when he becomes president,” Power says. The host, Stephen Sackur, challenged her:“So what the American public thinks is a commitment to get combat forces out in 16 months isn’t a commitment isn’t it?” “You can’t make a commitment in March 2008 about what circumstances will be like in January of 2009,” she said. “He will, of course, not rely on some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator. He will rely upon a plan – an operational plan – that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground to whom he doesn’t have daily access now, as a result of not being the president. So to think – it would be the height of ideology to sort of say, ‘Well, I said it, therefore I’m going to impose it on whatever reality greets me.’” “It’s a best-case scenario,” she said again.”

The practical difference in the rate of our military withdrawal from Iraq between a President McCain or Obama are likely not that significant. What they say in the campaign to placate their base will be wildly at odds, but what actually transpires will be virtually identical. It is even possible that McCain will be able to effect a quicker withdrawal than Obama as president.