Which brings us to our third point: that Barack Obama opposed the surge at its inception, and said this week that, knowing what he knows now, he’d oppose it again. If he is being sincere in that doggedness, then it would be hard to imagine a more perfect example of how the sainted unifier’s hippie weltanschauung blinds him to reality. And if his saying that he would oppose the surge again is itself a “tactical adjustment,” a concession to his base, it nonetheless remains true that Obama has been proved wrong about a vital strategic question of the war — and that where he was wrong, McCain was right.

That the surge worked does not mean the war is won, and there are sure to be challenges ahe...

Which brings us to our third point: that Barack Obama opposed the surge at its inception, and said this week that, knowing what he knows now, he’d oppose it again. If he is being sincere in that doggedness, then it would be hard to imagine a more perfect example of how the sainted unifier’s hippie weltanschauung blinds him to reality. And if his saying that he would oppose the surge again is itself a “tactical adjustment,” a concession to his base, it nonetheless remains true that Obama has been proved wrong about a vital strategic question of the war — and that where he was wrong, McCain was right.

That the surge worked does not mean the war is won, and there are sure to be challenges ahead. But the question now is not one of whether to reduce our presence in Iraq, but of how to do so in a way that maintains the strategic gains the surge has wrought. Whatever the answer, it will require a commander-in-chief with sound judgment. And we have more reason than we did a week ago to think that Barack Obama is not that man.