Barack Obama Joins Cut and Run Crowd for Iraq

(Corrected) - Barack Obama, the junior Senator with serious presidential aspirations has called for  troops to be withdrawn from Iraq with 4-6 months.  "There have been too many speeches," Barack Obama said to 1,400 at a foreign policy luncheon. "There have been too many excuses. There have been too many flag-draped coffins. There have been too many heartbroken families."

"The time for waiting in Iraq is over. It is time to change our policy."

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Is it fair to say cut and run? Obama thinks not, but the American public certainly is concerned that is exactly what some democrats will do.

"Our troops can help suppress the violence, but they cannot solve its root causes," Obama told members of the council. "And all the troops in the world won't be able to force Shia, Sunni and Kurd to sit down at a table, resolve their differences and forge a lasting peace."

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"And now, after three long years of watching the same back and forth in Washington, the American people have sent a clear message that the days of using the war on terror as a political football are over," Obama said,

"That policy-by-slogan will no longer pass as an acceptable form of debate in this country. 'Mission Accomplished,' 'cut and run,' 'stay the course' -- the American people have determined that all these phrases have become meaningless in the face of a conflict that grows more deadly and chaotic with each passing day, a conflict that has only increased the terrorist threat it was supposed to help contain."

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Someone may want to get in Obama's ear and warn him that according to the latest Newsweek poll Americans are very concerned that Democrats will indeed cut and run in Iraq.

According to the poll the public is worried the Democrats will move too fast on Iraq and too slow on national security.

For instance, 51 percent of Americans are very concerned that Congress will push too hastily for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq. (Only 20 percent say they are not too concerned or not at all concerned.)

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And 43 percent are very concerned that the new Congress may keep the administration from doing what is necessary to combat terrorism. Only 29 percent are not too concerned or not at all concerned.

Democrats will always be looked at as weak on National Defense and speeches like this one don't help.