Maybe when Barack Obama stops in Butte on Independence Day, he should just visit one of the great local bars, stay away from the media, and keep quiet about his Iraq policy. Today in North Dakota, Obama had a tough time explaining his position on Iraq – because he changed it.

Anyone who watched the Democratic debates knows that Obama took a hard stand on Iraq from the beginning of his campaign, saying that all combat troops would be out of Iraq in the first 16 months of his administration. From his website: “Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq.”

Today in a meeting Obama reversed his position on Iraq, which made the McCain campaign happy. Obama now appears to be siding with John McCain, which is the position to take.

Here’s a little of what the Associated Press (AP) reported:

Democrat Barack Obama struggled Thursday to explain how his upcoming trip to Iraq might refine, but not basically alter, his promise to quickly remove U.S. combat troops from the war.

The AP added:

He left the impression that his talks with military commanders there could refine his promise to remove U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office.

Then the AP summed it up:

During his presidential campaign, Obama has gone from the hard-edged, vocal opposition to Iraq that defined his early candidacy to more nuanced rhetoric that calls for the phased-out drawdown of all combat brigades that, at a rate of one or two a month, could take 16 months.

Welcome to Obama world – a world in which he is consistently changing his views with the wind.