Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama claims to want to change the way things are done in Washington but is changing his political message to appease the masses. While the media still plays up the age of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, Barack shows his lack of understanding of the military and foreign policy by his flip-flopping on Iraq. Barack recently changed his message about Iraq by removing the term surge from his website. 

Barack Obama has long touted his opposition to the war and the recent military surge. Barack is still claiming that the surge is not working and has claimed that the Iraqis have not made any political progress (read Barack's words at Encouraging Political Accommodation).

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell gave an update on Iraq yesterday saying:

• So let's go through (Iraqi) political (update). Do you want to talk about political gains? We've had basically all the major benchmark legislation passed. Yesterday, we saw the provincial election law passed. I understand that there's the danger of a veto there.    
• But that means, the only thing left to be passed legislatively by the council of representatives in Iraq, which everybody thought would be too divided and too young to be effective in leading this new, this reborn country, has passed every piece of legislation, major legislation before it, except for a hydrocarbon law. And revenues are being shared, despite the fact that there is no law mandating it.   
• You've seen the Sunni bloc now return to the government. You've seen 10 of 18 provinces return to Iraqi control. And Anbar is awaiting it. You've seen the Najaf International Airport open this weekend.   
• You see a $300-million luxury hotel opening up in the Green Zone; $50 million in refurbishment of the airport road. There's economic investment. There's political progress. There's increased security.   
• All those things are undeniable and they are attributable to the fact that we plussed up forces in there. That provided a security umbrella for life to begin to return to normal in Iraq.   

Army Brig. Gen. David Perkins, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman also gave an update:

• “The coalition surge was one of many surges that have come to produce programs and progress across Iraq. The coalition surge has been accompanied by a surge in Iraqi security forces, a surge of support by the Iraqi people, a surge in political and governance progress and a surge in the revitalization of the economic sector.”
• With violence throughout the country at its lowest levels in four years, the Iraqi council of representatives has approved 20 major legislative measures, ranging from accountability and justice laws to the Ministry of Interior penal code. Also, the improved security has facilitated meeting high demands of electricity, water and residential reconstruction in Baghdad, he said.
• Throughout the past year, electricity production has increased 13 percent and oil production has increased 25 percent a day, the general said. Iraqi government agencies have granted loans to 18,000 small and medium businesses .
• These results also can be attributed to the maturity and growth of the Iraqi security. Iraqi security forces have grown an additional 150,000 trained troops over the past year, and they planned, led and executed major security operations in Basra, Mosul, eastern Baghdad and Amarah. Control of 10 of Iraq’s 18 provinces has been handed over to Iraqi security forces, with Anbar province near that mark as well.

Barack has also changed his stance on the deployment of troops in Iraq. When Obama was competing against Hillary Clinton for the democratic nomination, Barack promised to withdraw the troops immediately. Obama's stance has now changed (probably attributable to polls) as he is proposing a phased withdrawal(read Barack's words at A Responsible, Phased Withdrawal).

Take on Israel
Obama also needs some lessons on the Middle East as he said this about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Mar 2007:

• “Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people.”

Of course Barack also said this in Feb 2007:

• "It is important to remember this history that Israel had unilaterally withdrawn from Lebanon only to have Iran supply Hezbollah with thousands of rockets."

• "Our job is to never forget that the threat of violence is real. Our job is to renew the United States efforts to help Israel achieve peace with its neighbors while remaining vigilant against those who do not share this vision. Our job is to do more than lay out another road map; our job is to rebuild the road to real peace and lasting security throughout the region."

• "That effort begins with a clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel: our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy. That will always be my starting point." 

It would behoove those who are about to make the monumental choice of electing the next President to thoroughly know the candidates and their world views. A lack of understanding could be a very dangerous choice given the current sentiments about America throughout the world.

Conclusion
The Obama plan for Iraq also has the catchphrase Judgment You Can Trust. Is the Obama campaign serious when they use these words? When are we supposed to trust his judgment? In January he said "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

The real question is whether or not the talking heads or political pundits will take Obama to task over these changes. Will the media darling get a pass or will Barack have to defend his flip-flopping?