So, Obama continued moving to the right to attract the general public by stating that after he meets with military commanders he will “continue to refine” his position on Iraq:

“My 16-month timeline, if you examine everything I’ve said, was always premised on making sure our troops were safe,” Obama told reporters as his campaign plane landed in North Dakota, a state no Democratic presidential candidate has carried since 1964. “And my guiding approach continues to be that we’ve got to make sure that our troops are safe, and that Iraq is stable. And I’m going to continue to gather information to find out whether those conditions still hold.”

But then he must have realized he went too far because apparently he adopted McCain’s policy 🙂 so he called a second news conference to make it clear that he didn’t want anyone thinking he changed his position on Iraq (even after meeting with the generals and discovering what the conditions are like on the ground he will not listen to them but bring the troops home anyway whether it endangers Iraqis and the remaining troops or not):

In a second, hastily convened news conference, Obama insisted that his policies have not changed, and that he has “not equivocated” or is not “searching for maneuvering room” on Iraq. Consultations with commanders in the coming weeks will be focused more on the size of U.S. forces needed to train and equip Iraqi military and police units, as well as maintaining a “counterterrorism strike force” to prevent al-Qaeda from making a comeback, he said.
“Let me be as clear as I can be: I intend to end this war,” he said. “My first day in office, I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission. That is to end this war, responsibly, deliberately but decisively.”

I think he was attempting to give himself more wiggle room in case it was blatantly obvious since the surge has been working, he may not want to lose this war when victory is at hand. So why fall back on the old position? Why give yourself absolutely no wiggle room?
But more importantly, if he really wasn’t changing his position, why did he say that he will “continue to refine” his policy? What does that mean? Was he thinking he could slip the word “refine” in there to give himself some wiggle room when he met with commanders but then didn’t want the Republicans saying he had changed his position? I think that makes the most sense.
It’s going to be a little hard for him to even move a little to the right on this because if he does, the press and the Republicans will be all over it. But I bet after he meets with the commanders, he will start wiggling again. He was unequivocal in his support of Wright until he needed to kick him to the curb and I bet if he has to, he’ll do the same to his Iraq policy knowing his base will still vote for him no matter what. I think he’ll still say he’s bringing the troops home but he’ll start framing it in less absolute terms.
We’ve already seen that he’s willing to evolve, why wouldn’t he do it on this issue as well?