"There appears to be no issue that Barack Obama is not willing to reverse himself on for the sake of political expedience," said RNC spokesman Alex Conant. "Obama's Iraq problem undermines the central premise of his candidacy and shows him to be a typical politician."
Obama's stepped-up emphasis on examining the condition on the ground before withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq led a spokesman to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to allege that the presumptive Democratic nominee has adopted the position of his Republican rival.
"Today, Barack Obama reversed that position, proving once again that his words do not matter," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers. "He has now adopted John McCain's position that we cannot risk the progress we have made in Iraq by beginning to withdraw our troops immediately without concern for conditions on the ground."
"If he had visited Iraq sooner or actually had a one-on-one meeting with General Petraeus, he would have changed his position long ago," said Rogers.
Contrary to the Rogers claim, McCain's position still differs from Obama in that the Arizona senator has not joined his Democratic rival in wanting to write a target date for U.S. troop withdrawal into U.S. law.
Obama's two Thursday press conferences were held in Fargo, N.D.
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