When will Obama thank Bush? When will Obama admit he was wrong about the surge?

Why thank Bush? For authorizing the surge plan – you know, the one President Obama opposed as a junior Senator and still opposed as a candidate for president (even after it was blatantly evident that the violence and killings had dramatically decreased) – that eventually helped the security situation in Iraq stabilize and the political reconciliation process begin to take place to the point that the Commander in Chief after him could put in place a realistic withdrawal plan, approved by top military brass as well as supported by top Republicans, that would allow our troops an honorable exit from Iraq within 19 months with a certain number of forces sticking around just in case?

I’d like to go on record as saying “thanks” to President Obama for doing the right thing, which obviously irritates and disappoints many in his anti-war base (including Dem Congressional “leaders”), because he clearly learned something from his viewing of the war through President Bush’s eyes after the election, and now understands that things were and are a lot more complex than he understood them to be while both a junior Senator and presidential hopeful. But at the same time, I’d like some public acknowlegement from him that he was wrong in opposing the surge, wrong in suggesting that our troop deaths were “wasted” deaths, and for him to admit that as a result of the surge he can do what he’s doing now as it relates to getting the process started for pulling most of our troops from Iraq in a year and a half. It’s easy enough to thank the troops for their many sacrifices and heroic efforts in Iraq. It’s another thing altogether to admit that your predecessor and your opponent in the presidential election were right on a major issue you demagogued them on.

Hey, if Bush had to admit his Iraq mistakes, then why can’t we hold Obama to that same standard?

I know. I won’t hold my breath.

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Memeorandum has many more reax to Obama’s Iraq announcement.