But try to imagine building a skyscraper under the premise that if you haven't finished it on time, you're going to quit and leave it half constructed.

The idea that if you haven't won a war by a certain date you're going to bail out is of relatively recent invention, as is the term "exit strategy." Mostly it's a recipe for defeat, and reflects a mindset concerned with domestic political success, not military success.

I'm just hoping Obama is serious about "conditions-based."

Whatever else one can say about Bush, he sacrificed all of his political capital to stick with Iraq while Democrats were doing everything possible to bail out at the height of the worst fighting. Will Obama have the same persistence? I wasn't impressed by his views during the Iraq surge. We'll see.