Shell Game

The old Lenin line of "useful idiots" sums it up.

Obama rose to prominence on a huge anti-war platform. A large chunk of his base came from the MoveOn anti-war crowd, and I guess they believed him when he said he would begin bringing the troops home the second he got into office. Over time, the word "immediately" became "responsibly," and the phrase "bring the troops home" became "redeploy." But hey, in for a penny, in for pound so the anti-war crowd stuck with him. Then when Obama said during the debates that the real war was in Afghanistan and he would have to transfer troops in Iraq over there, they must have been really skeptical about his anti-war credentials...right?

Nope. They still loved him. And only now are they getting queazy upon discovering that when Mr. Obama says something, you'd better wait for the follow-up:

Antiwar groups and other liberal activists are increasingly concerned at signs that Barack Obama's national security team will be dominated by appointees who favored the Iraq invasion and hold hawkish views on other important foreign policy issues.

The activists are uneasy not only about signs that both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates could be in the Obama Cabinet, but at reports suggesting that several other short-list candidates for top security posts backed the decision to go to war.

As luck would have it, the "surge" strategy which Mr. Obama opposed has worked. Iraq is doing well, which is why you never see it in the papers anymore. So you'd think it should be no problem for him to bring those troops home. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama is sticking to the "redeployment" angle, which means these troops could stay in Iraq, go to Afghanistan, or take a trip to the moon.

This politicking is already starting to take its toll, as progressive websites begin using words like pressure, and fight (the pun is theirs). One Obama anti-war guy is especially flabbergasted at the lack of doves on Obama's shortlist:

"It's astonishing that not one of the 23 senators or 133 House members who voted against the war is in the mix," said Sam Husseini of the liberal group Institute for Public Accuracy.

Astonishing? Dude, where have you been?