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Candidates Refine Their Stances on a Changing Iraq
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"The people who say this apparently haven't been listening to me," he said. "And, I have to say, some of them are my friends on the left and some of the media. I am somebody who is no doubt progressive." He listed issues in which he views himself as progressive -- on providing universal health-care coverage, increased teacher pay -- then said that on other matters, he believes in thinking more creatively about nongovernmental solutions.
On Iraq, Obama declared unequivocally his commitment to withdrawal. And he said that he has always advocated caution.
"I have also consistently said, once we were in, we had to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in, because once you get in you've got to make sure our troops are safe," he said. "You've got to make sure the country doesn't collapse, so what I've called for is a phased withdrawal, a phased redeployment."
He continued: "Now, assuming that I take office in January, then that means that we would still have our troops there for about two more years from now. There's nothing rushed about that. . . . When I hear John McCain saying we can't surrender, we can't wave the white flag -- nobody's talking about surrender. We're talking about common sense."
Obama said: "I am going to bring this war to an end."
Shear reported from the McCain campaign in Washington and Pittsburgh.
