"Three or four of his Iraq advisers are hinting of greater flexibility, though speaking for themselves, not for him. That indicates the potential for some change in his previous position or at least some flexibility."

Some advisers acknowledge privately that Obama is now emphasizing the need to be "responsible" in handling Iraq -- rather than emphasizing urgency in getting troops out -- to appear more centrist, a substantial adjustment of his original antiwar stance.

There is another factor that could potentially come into play as Obama deepens his Iraq policy: his newfound alliance with Clinton and his move to incorporate her foreign policy advisers into his team. In trying to unite the party, Obama has described his differences with Clinton as negligible.

"If you look at my positions and Senator Clinton's, there's not a lot of difference, which is why it's so easy for advisers, senior advisers of Senator Clinton, to support my candidacy," Obama said at a meeting of his new working group on national security earlier this month.

See more stories tagged with: iraq, iraq war, robert gates, barack obama, denis mcdonough, madeleine albright, william perry

Robert Dreyfuss is the author of "Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam" (Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books).

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