OP-ED: Obama's Step in the Right Direction (Austrialian Online)

Right now the softest target in the Western world is President George Bush. Partly because at the end of his Republican administration, the United States is in recession. But primarily because many critics of Bush, both within and outside America, resent the fact he continued US involvement in Iraq after the 2004 presidential election, and refused to back down on his strong commitment to national security.

In short, Bush has been ridiculed because, stubbornly, he did not want to lose a war which had cost the US, Britain and Australia both blood and treasure. Many of Bush's critics were attracted to Barack Obama, both in the primary and presidential elections, because he was committed to withdraw US forces from Iraq - by his promised date of 16 months after the inauguration in late January next year, that is by mid-2010.

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