Obama and Iraq = Nixon and Vietnam

This morning Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal compared Obama's approach to Iraq to Nixon's approach to Vietnam. Stephens wrote:

"Richard Nixon came to office with a rumored secret plan to end the war in Vietnam. Maybe Barack Obama's plan to end the war in Iraq is going to wind up being a secret, too."

"The presumptive Democratic nominee set off media firecrackers last week by hinting at further refinements to his strategy for withdrawal. Previous strategies include his January 2007 call for a complete withdrawal by March 2008, followed by his March 2008 call for a complete withdrawal by July 2010, or 16 months after he takes office."


"Now Mr. Obama tells us that the 16-month timeline is contingent on (1) "[making] sure that our troops are safe and that Iraq is stable" (my emphasis), and (2) the opinion of "the commanders on the ground." Also in question is the size of the "residual force" that the Illinois senator envisions for Iraq after the bulk of U.S. forces is withdrawn. Will it be an embassy guard, plus some military advisers and special-ops forces? Or, as suggested in a March paper by Colin H. Kahl, who runs Mr. Obama's working group on Iraq, an "overwatch force" of between 60,000 and 80,000 soldiers?"

Stephens makes some valid points about Obama's approach to Iraq and he provides futher evidence of Obama back-tracking on policies that he once ademently advocated on the campaign trail. Stephens concluded with an interesting parting shot. He wrote:


"The delightful irony, of course, is that Mr. Obama's prospective task in Iraq has been made infinitely easier by the success of President Bush's surge, the very policy he derided only a year ago. How seriously this calls his judgment into question – "judgment" being the key quality on which he sold his candidacy to the Democratic Party – will be for voters to decide in November. But it does suggest he's lucky, an attribute any president would wish for. Poor Richard Nixon, most of all."

Full article.