President Bush now says the United States will accept timelines leading to our withdrawal from Iraq.

He doesn't call them "timelines," of course. To do so would be to admit he is adopting virtually every foreign policy prescription of Barack Obama. Instead, the White House refers to "aspirational goals."

Oh.

This, incidentally, is the same White House that denied earlier this week that it will negotiate directly with Iran. Sure, we're sending the number three executive of the State Department to Iraq, explained the presidential spokeswoman. But he's not going there to negotiate.  He's going there to explain that we won't negotiate.

Oh.

Wouldn't it have been cheaper to send an e-mail in that case?

I don't want to be too critical, since, at long last, the Bush administration is adopting policies that make sense.

But their explanations are ludicrous.