SURGE!

Obama is admitting on BillO's show that the surge worked.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Thursday that the escalation of U.S. troops in Iraq, which he had opposed, has succeeded in reducing violence "beyond our wildest dreams."

But Iraq still has failed to achieve the political reconciliation and self-sufficiency that is required, he said, and he vowed to withdraw American troops and end the war.

Earlier Thursday, in taping a segment for Fox's "O'Reilly Factor," Obama said the surge of U.S. troops has "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams."

Republicans repeatedly have accused Obama of denying the military progress being made in Iraq and of wanting to pull out when victory is within reach.

Campaigning in Pennsylvania on Thursday, Obama was more effusive than usual in describing the reduction in violence that resulted largely from President Bush's decision to send thousands of more troops to Iraq in 2007. But he stuck to his assertion that "the surge" has not led to the political reconciliation among quarreling factions that was its larger goal.

OK, it's good he got out of the way, but doesn't Bush's own timeline for withdrawal render the McSame position on the Surge, that we should stay until we win no matter how long it takes, as moot?

All Obama has to say is "Bush set a timeline for withdrawal like the Democrats have been asking him to do for years now. That's a validation that we've been right on Iraq all along." In other words, Obama admits he lost the SURGE! battle, but won the greater point on the entire Iraq War.

So really, Lindsey Graham can go to hell.