Will Obama match Iraq speech rhetoric with political action?

Barack Obama has a a very good speech on Iraq on the fifth anniversary of the war’s start.

Rightly, he notes that John McCain wants to talk about military tactics, and not whether this war strategically benefits the United States, let alone whether it is morally viable.

It is time to have a debate with John McCain about the future of our national security. And the way to win that debate is not to compete with John McCain over who has more experience in Washington, because that's a contest that he'll win. The way to win a debate with John McCain is not to talk, and act, and vote like him on national security, because then we all lose.

Nor does McCain want to talk about how he would finance the Iraq war differently than President Bush, despite all his posturing about being fiscally responsible.

That said, Obama hasn’t matched rhetoric with reality since actually getting sworn in as Illinois’ junior senator. He’s acted like a typical first-term junior senator.

As I said yesterday in reflecting on his relations with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on Iraq, also, Obama has been trying to stand on top of two stools, one as “responsible politician” and one as “change-maker.” Other than trying to bring a new paradigm to racial — and larger socioeconomic — issues, foreign policy, especially Iraq, and beyond that, related transnational issues, is where Obama’s “change” mantra hits the road between these two stools.

If Obama gets elected, and delivers on his pre-2004 rhetoric with action, I’ll give him a champagne toast on the pages of this blog. But, not yet.