UK PAPER REVEALS OBAMA IS MAKING CAMPAIGN PROMISES OUT OF HIS ASS: SHOCKING MAINSTREAM MEDIA ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF OBAMA FLIP FLOP

Of course, we've been blogging about this for a while. It's nice to see a mainstream media outlet call Obama out. We'll see how the American media spins it. From guardian.co.uk:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama today said he would "refine" his position on withdrawal from Iraq after meeting with military commanders there this summer, then later insisted he had not softened his commitment to remove US combat forces with 16 months of taking office.

Speaking with reporters at an airport in Fargo, North Dakota, the Illinois senator appeared open to altering his campaign pledge to have US combat troops home from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

"I am going to do a thorough assessment when I'm there,'' he said. "I'm sure I'll have more information and continue to refine my policy."

The Republican party leapt at the comments and accused Obama of reversing himself, and at a press conference later, Obama sought to clarify his remarks.

"Let me be as clear as I can be: I tend to end this war," he said. "I have seen no information that contradicts the notion that we can bring out troops out safely at a pace of one to two brigades per month," with all out within 16 months. "This is the same position that I had four months ago."

Obama founded his campaign on a strident anti-war message, which dates back to a speech he gave in Chicago in 2002, while still a state senator.

Republican nominee John McCain was an early supporter of the troop surge in Iraq and has backed the war from the beginning.

He said he will keep US forces there to maintain the security gains the surge has facilitated. He has said he plans to have most US combat troops home by the end of his first term.

It should be noted that there were many conservative pundits who predicted that Obama would spin his Iraq position in this fashion as the election approached. And so it has come to pass.

I'm not sure what it is that Obama needs to assess. In January, 2007 he seemed to know all he needed to know about when the troops needed to be back. He even proposed a bill:

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, one of the most prominent Democrats in the 2008 presidential field, proposed for the first time setting a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq, as part of a broader plan aimed at bolstering the freshman senator's foreign policy credentials.

Obama's legislation, offered on the Senate floor last night, would remove all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008. The date falls within the parameters offered by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which recommended the removal of combat troops by the first quarter of next year.

What changed in Iraq between then and now? Oh, I know. Victory happened. Wake up America! You don't want Obama on that wall!