Obama stakes out the pacifist wing

Obama is trying hard to position himself as the dove candidate. First he announced that potential genocide is not a good enough reason to keep troops in Iraq - or anywhere else. This is a strange attitude for the supposedly caring party but it distinguishes him from Hillary. She said, at least a few weeks ago, that she would keep enough troops in Iraq to prevent ethnic cleansing.

In last week's debate, Obama was asked if he would be willing to meet with leaders hostile to the US without precondition. He said that, yes, he would. Later in the week, he slammed Hillary as being Bush-lite for refusing to meet with leaders she disapproves of. Hillary, who knows how the White House works, knows better.

Obama is trying to carve out a position that will appeal to anti-war activists. There are dangers here.

The first problem is that some Democrats may be uncomfortable with such an iron-clad position. Since the Holocaust, the cry of the Jews has been "never again". Obama contradicts this. Will Jews vote for a candidate who would allow a second Holocaust happen?

Assuming that the strategy works and Obama gets the nomination, he faces a new set of problems. While most Americans are tired of the war, it is not clear that most Americans want a bloodbath on their hands or that they want a president who has essentially announced his surrender to terrorists and insurgents. His willingness to meet with foreign leaders who openly mock the US will make us look week.

Worse, if another terrorist strike happens on US soil, Obama has already fenced himself in. It will be hard to assure an anxious country that he will reply to terrorism with strength when he is so against military action.