Change You Can Believe In… or Honestly, Would I Lie To You?

(9:45PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

In efforts to strengthen his somewhat faltering presidential bid after last weeks shuffle to the center to the right in his reversal of a long held campaign promise with his support for preemptively pardoning retroactively legalizing years of Bush criminal behavior and expanded domestic surveillance at the low, low price of gutting your fourth amendment rights, Barack Obama has made more major position “adjustments” with changes to his campaign website today.

The AP reports about an hour ago: Obama Web site removes ‘surge’ from Iraq problem

Barack Obama’s aides have removed criticism of President Bush’s increase of troops to Iraq from the campaign Web site, part of an effort to update the Democrat’s written war plan to reflect changing conditions.

…

McCain said Obama is failing to acknowledge success. “Today, we know Sen. Obama was wrong” to oppose the surge, McCain said.

As first reported Tuesday by the New York Daily News, Obama’s campaign removed a reference to the surge as part of “The Problem” section on the part of his Web site devoted to laying out his plan for Iraq.

The change was part of many broader changes that Obama spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said were made to reflect current conditions.

Designed to appeal to the center right likely in hopes of drawing voters away from the McCain camp, which he’ll need to replace progressive support lost over FISA, Obama takes more steps towards offering another “Bush Third Term” coke or pepsi choice between himself and McCain to voters this year.

The AP article continues…

The change was part of many broader changes that Obama spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said were made to reflect current conditions. She provided the full text of the old site and the updated version, which includes a new section on the recent resurgence of al-Qaida in Afghanistan and another on this year’s negotiations over a Status of Forces Agreement that would detail the legal basis for the ongoing presence of U.S. military forces operating in Iraq.

The changes stress that Obama’s plan to end the war is responsible and designed to improve national security. They include:

_ An updated Obama quote at the top of the page. The previous quote stressed how Obama had the judgment to oppose the “rash war” from the start. This was a popular message among Democratic voters and was meant to draw distinctions with primary rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, who initially supported the war. The new quote focuses on how ending the war will make Americans safer – a message aimed at general election voters who are more likely to trust McCain on issues of national security, according to polling.

_ A description of Obama’s plan as “a responsible, phased withdrawal” that will be directed by military commanders and done in consultation with the Iraqis. Previously, the site had a sentence that has since been removed that flatly said, “Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq.” Morigi said that his plan hasn’t changed, but they wanted to expand the description. “There’s not an intent to shift language,” she said.

_ A new sentence that says Obama “would reserve the right to intervene militarily, with our international partners, to suppress potential genocidal violence within Iraq.”

Only one of his plan’s subheads remains unchanged, the first one – “Judgment You Can Trust.” That’s a message the campaign wants Americans to embrace.