The Occasional Observer

Obama will announce his Iraq troop withdrawal plan today. Basically takes ~100,000 troops out of Iraq in 19 months, and leaves a residual force of ~35,000-50,000 in place through the end of 2011.

Hmmmmm. First, of course, is the obvious comment that this is totally different than his ludicrous campaign promise to remove ALL troops from Iraq in 16 months. Funny how things like "reality" and "facts" end up changing your grandiose claims once you take time to learn the situation on the ground. Second, congratulations to Obama for basically enacting the Bush/Petraeus drawdown. The main difference is that Bush would never have been so stupid as to publish a timetable for terrorists to see, but in essence it is quite likely that this type of drawdown is what would have happened.

On the domestic front, I'd like to hear from all the people who were convinced that Obama would govern from the center, and the fact that he had the #1 most liberal senator rating was not a true indicator of his positions. Really? Looks like it was dead nuts on. Private economists are already attacking his overly optimistic projections about GDP growth over next 4 years. His budget will guarantee massive deficits for years to come, with the likely result huge tax increases across the board and inflation.