The times, they are a’changin … and so is Obama

So Barack Obama may "refine" his timeline for withdrawing troops from Iraq. No kidding. The United States now has a major military presence at the centre of the largest conventional oil reserves in the world and they are going to walk away from that? Not likely. It was only a matter of time before someone tactfully explained that little reality to the senator. I suspect if he becomes president he will "revise" the word timeline right out of his vocabulary.

Some Americans are calling Obama a hypocrite, changing his policies for crass political advantage. Others are complimenting him for exercising flexibility, a quality greatly lacking in the current administration.

Flexibility, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, is commendable in a leader. Unless of course he is simply changing his tune to suit his audience which, it seems, is what Obama is doing. One tune for confronting Clinton, another for confronting McCain. One for confronting fellow Democrats, another for confronting the American public. Whatever it takes. McCain is, of course, doing the same thing.

Be that as it may, a switch on Iraq was inevitable. Those Americans who believed otherwise simply weren't recognizing the reality of empire.