Ignatius: Obama is outflanking rivals on the left and right

By David Ignatius

Senator Barack Obama is getting polite applause at best when he tells the delegates at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Missouri, this week that in running for president, "I know I am running for commander in chief." And then he tries to convince this intensely skeptical audience that he's the right man for the job. Obama reminds them he opposed the war in Iraq, even though most of the delegates doubtless supported it. He lauds the soldiers fighting there even as he criticizes the civilians of the Bush administration who have managed the war. He says we have "no good options in Iraq," and that the US must be careful about how it withdraws. He warns that when a president sends soldiers to war next time, the country must be united enough to sustain the fight.

The vets certainly aren't cheering wildly when Obama is done, but to judge from the dozens who rush up to meet him, he seems to have reassured this conservative audience that he's not a left-wing devil. When a local reporter asks him if he's surprised by the "warm response" he got, Obama displays the almost eerie self-confidence that has marked his rise as a candidate.

...Indeed, you can argue that over the past month, Obama has been shaping the foreign policy debate for the Democrats - and getting the best of the arguments. By last Sunday's televised debate in Iowa, nobody else seemed eager to challenge Obama's postulate that "strong countries and strong presidents meet and talk with our adversaries." And there was little repetition, either, of the tut-tutting that greeted his statement that he would be prepared to go after Al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan, with or without President Musharraf's blessing. Senator Hillary Clinton's stance has been more cautious, seeking to convey a general but vaguely defined sense that her toughness and experience would make her a strong president. Obama is taking the opposite tack.

...Obama is deftly managing to outflank his Democratic rivals on both the left and right on key foreign policy issues. That may be a piece of political opportunism on his part, but a top Obama adviser gives it a different spin, which may reveal the essence of the man: "He is totally pragmatic. He asks what would work and what wouldn't."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=84708

I would hardly call it "taking the opposite tack" from Hillary.

I really liek Obama, but after his suggestion that we invade Pakistan he has to win my vote back.