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Apr 18 2008 11:11AM EDT

David Brooks Puts Words in Obama's Mouth

No wonder David Brooks was in the tiny minority who thought ABC News did a good job with Wednesday night's debate. He evidently saw a different debate than the rest of us -- one where Barack Obama "made an iron vow to get American troops out of Iraq within 16 months."

Here's the relevant passage from the Times's own transcript of the debate:

Now, I will always listen to our commanders on the ground with respect to tactics. Once I've given them a new mission, that we are going to proceed deliberately in an orderly fashion out of Iraq and we are going to have our combat troops out, we will not have permanent bases there, once I've provided that mission, if they come to me and want to adjust tactics, then I will certainly take their recommendations into consideration; but ultimately the buck stops with me as the commander in chief.

Now, does that sound like an "iron vow," or like a guy being very careful to leave himself some room for later maneuver? You would think that Brooks, in a column all about how Obama has become a "conventional politician," would recognize non-committal doublespeak for what it is. Can he possibly doubt that a President Obama who decided to keep troops in Iraq after all would point to his "tactics" disclaimer as evidence that it's not a flip-flop?

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