Clinton and Obama: a slight shift in tone on Iraq?

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff

The two Democratic frontrunners have had some almost positive things to say this week about a surprising topic: the war in Iraq.

First, appearing before the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton said, "We've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Al Anbar province, it's working." She added, however, that it was too late to truly turn things around.

Asked about Clinton's comments on a conference call with reporters today, Senator Barack Obama said, "if we put an additional 30,000 of our troops ... into Baghdad, that's going to quell some of the violence short-term. I don't think there's ever been any doubt about that." Yet there is still no military solution to the problems in Iraq, he added.

Those aren't exactly rosy assessments. But they do strike a bit of a different tone. So we wonder, is it just because this week both candidates had the VFW's membership on their minds?

Or maybe the candidates are looking ahead to a key milestone next month, when General David Petraeus will update Congress on the progress of the war. If his assessment turns out to be at all positive, the Democratic presidential contenders will have to walk a rhetorical minefield, accepting the wisdom of a highly-respected military leader while still insisting that the country needs to get out of Iraq. Perhaps they've already started practicing.