Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters says it best: “Petraeus Moved the Debate.” Democratic presidential candidates changed their rhetoric ever so slightly in last night’s debate: Obama, Clinton, and Edwards won’t commit to pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2013, the end of their first presidential term if elected. Democrats can no longer ignore the fact that progress is being made in Iraq, and bloggers attribute this change directly to General Petraeus’s testimony. According to Morrissey, Petraeus’s “testimony on the surge, and the effects of the surge itself, has made it much more difficult for Democrats to argue for withdrawal and defeat,” simply because “Americans don’t like to lose wars, and given the successes that Petraeus has generated, more Americans see an opportunity to persevere in Iraq.” Ace of Spades outlines the Democrats’ comments, and it is clear that they are in no hurry to withdraw. Michelle Malkin agrees, and asks these Democrats, “Maybe that White Flag wasn’t such a terrific prop after all, eh?” Bryan at Hot Air correctly states that the “Netroots ain’t gonna like this.” Of course not. DailyKos, MoveOn.org, and the rest of the antiwar crowd have been calling for immediate withdrawal. Who is “betraying” them now? Confederate Yankee notes, “What we may–and I caution, may–be witnessing here is a bursting of the progressive blogosphere’s image of its influence over the rest of the Democratic Party.” Hopefully! The Oxford Medievalist wryly says, “it looks like not only Hillary, but the other major Democratic candidates as well, have ‘willingly suspended disbelief.'” But more importantly, “The fact is the surge is working – we are making enough progress in Iraq for most sensible people to justify continuing and, not only are Democrats powerless to force a surrender, even the Democratic presidential front-runners realize the new reality.”
