The conditions have been "changed" for well over half a year now. The Democratic Party has been working full-time to avoid recognizing it, after spending the entire previous year trying to shut down the surge and new tactics that were the reasons for the change. They were stopped by vetoes, veto threats, and solid resistance from the White House.

The policy you think "sounds reasonable" now is exactly what Bush has been pushing, to endless jeers from the Democrats, for as long as the Democrats have been screaming for withdrawal NOW. Go look up the term "conditions based" or "no timetable" and see what comes up.

The administration's idea has always been we would leave when the Iraqi Army can carry the load, and when Iraq can stand on its own. You can look variations on those phrases, too.

You don't think it would be hilarious for Obama to adopt Bush's long-held Iraq policy almost word-for-word? I do.

I figured that in the future the Democrats would try to take the credit for any victory in Iraq, or at least ensure that Bush got none of it, but I didn't think they had the brass balls to actually swipe his policy out from under him.