A Third Bush Term

E.J. Dionne, not exactly a garden variety conservative, bangs on Obamamania's flip flopping on the war.

You might ask: What's wrong with that? A commander in chief willing to adjust his view to facts and realities should be a refreshing idea.

But when news reports suggested Obama was backing away from his commitment to withdrawing troops from Iraq in 16 months, Obama's lieutenants no doubt heard echoes of those cries of "flip-flop" that rocked the 2004 Republican National Convention and proved devastating to John Kerry.

So out Obama came again to reiterate his timeline. "Apparently, I wasn't clear enough this morning on my position with respect to the war in Iraq," he said. "I intend to end this war. My first day in office I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission, and that is to end this war -- responsibly, deliberately, but decisively."

I hate to clue in Obamamania on a little secret but Bush already did that. It's called winning.

But really, when you look at Obamamania these past few weeks you get a lot of Bush. Backing the FISA law, gun backer, faith based initiatives is starting to look a lot like a third Bush term.