Despite denials from his campaign staff, it would appear as if Barack Obama is moving to the right on the issue of troop withdrawals from Iraq.

During the primaries, and while he was running hard against Hillary Clinton, Obama certainly encouraged the impression that, if elected, he would move to begin a troop withdrawal right away.

But while in Fargo, North Dakota Thursday, he first said he may have to “refine” his stance, according to a Reuters dispatch, only to say later in the day that what he is saying now is what he has been saying for well over a year!  Really????

Sounds almost Bush like

At first, Obama apparently made it sound that he might reconsider his famed 16 month withdrawal time table after he takes “facts on the ground into account.”

Well, that was all a spokesman for the Republican National Committee needed to spring into action saying, ” There appears to be no issue that Barack Obama is not willing to reverse himself on for the sake of political expedience.”

Obama responded just as quickly that his position has not changed…that he always said he would “listen to commanders on the ground” in deciding when and how to pull combat troops out of Iraq.

Perhaps. But he certainly did a good impression of someone who had made up his mind to end America’s tragic involvement in Iraq pronto. Now, he sounds more like George Bush.  Or, John McCain?