As a replacement for the Democrats' "Retreat-and-Defeat De-funding" bill for the Iraq War is being cobbled together, an interesting dynamic forms for the Presidential nomination race. Will the Democrats comply with the President's request for a "clean" funding bill - one devoid of withdrawal language and excess pork baggage - or will they acquiesce to the clamors from the moonbat left to pass essentially the same turn-tail-and-run bill just vetoed?

We can fairly assume that if Pelosi and Reid agree to the former (with perhaps the additional of some meaningless "benchmarks" without timetables or specific consequences), Hillary, Biden, and Dodd will go along. We also know that Edwards will seize the opportunity to move up into the lead pack by demanding the opposite (since he has already made the demand). But wherefore Obama? Will he be the antiwar darling who reminded us he was against the war in 2002, or the cautious leader who insists we cannot withdraw precipitously?

It's a momentous decision for his campaign, as Dick Morris notes in The Hill:

To date, Obama has portrayed himself to the left of Hillary on the war by reminding voters that he opposed it in 2002 when Mrs. Clinton and John Edwards each voted to begin it. That historical differential will suffice until a more current vote takes place. Then Obama will have to decide which he is -- a dove or a hawk.

In his appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman," Obama seemed to side with those who do not want a funding cutoff, saying that "we have to be more responsible" in ending the war than we were in deciding to begin it. If he hews to this line and backs the Pelosi-Reid-Bush deal, he will leave Edwards with the entire left to himself. Edwards has already e-mailed his followers saying that "we have 96 hours" to deluge Congress with e-mails to force a schedule for the withdrawal of troops into the war appropriations bill.

If Obama joins Hillary in backing the compromise, he will be inviting Edwards back into the race and what has become a two-way contest will become a three-way affair. With the anti-war platform entirely to himself, Edwards could well upend both Obama and Hillary and win the nomination himself.

Read the whole article at the link above. Obama will have to come down on one side or the other on this issue; no heapin' helpin' of "the audacity of hope" can hide the stark choice he must make.