A Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day

Barack Obama (and now Joe Biden on Meet the Press) have been claiming that the Iraqi government and even President Bush have now agreed with Obama's plan to get out of Iraq.

Obama has been saying for more than a year that he will pull troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

President Bush and John McCain has said they won't set such a timeline to leave Iraq until it is appropriate for American troops to hand over control of Iraqi security to the Iraqi military.

As conditions in Iraq continue to improve, the ability for American troops to leave also improves. And now, as Iraq meets one benchmark after another, the time is starting to be appropriate to set some time frame for pulling troops out of Iraq.

So, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says 16 months is a pretty decent estimate. President Bush says setting "time horizons" is appropriate given the success in Iraq.

But does that mean that they are supporting Obama's plan? They day necessarily has to come when we are 16 months from leaving Iraq. Does that mean that we do so because Obama has been saying 16 months for the last year and a half? Of course not.

Obama is a broken clock. But there will be a day when Bush's time horizon is the same as Obama's. It doesn't mean Obama was right all along. And it certainly doesn't mean that Bush supports Obama. Obama has been wrong all along - his 16-month plan is regardless of conditions in Iraq.

Obama has been wrong and will continue to be wrong - until the moment we are 16 months from leaving Iraq. But the idea that Bush and Maliki are suddenly agreeing with him is both wrong and ingenuous. It's just another attempt to bolster his shockingly weak resume.