i kind of missed all the hubbub about obama's alleged flip-flop on iraq because i was traveling when it happened. after both reading and seeing the video of the "refining" comment, it's quite a spin to call it a flip-flop. "refining" a policy is not the same thing as scrapping it. i basically share obama's puzzlement over the reaction to his remarks. while obama has definitely changed positions on other things (e.g. FISA and campaign financing), his statements from the last week are completely consistent with his other statements about iraq over the past few months: that he is committed to withdrawing all combat troops from iraq, that he will start the withdrawal immediately upon taking office, and that the withdrawal will continue as quickly as is possible for a safe pullout.
nevertheless john mccain is seizing on this and running with it, even if it means lying about what obama really said. and the media has mostly gone alone with it.
but the interesting that is that mccain's interpretation of obama's remarks depends upon his inability to tell strategy (the goal of withdrawing from iraq) from tactics (how to carry out that withdrawal). for all of mccain's vaunted military experience, it's remarkable that he doesn't understand such a basic distinction.
