A predictable headline:

Anti-War Activists Disappointed With Obama’s Iraq Withdrawal Plan

Let’s see: Pushing back the timetable, increasing the size of the “residual” force, keeping the bases and the contractors, sounds like . . . . Over to you, lefties:

Paul Kawika Martin, political director for Peace Action, called Obama’s plan “one small step forward from the Bush administration.”

Didn’t somebody predict that these headlines and disconsolate quotes would start becoming common? Oh, yes, someone did.

On the other hand, if the Left has complaints with the Obama administration, they can always take them up with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he thinks it would be a good idea to keep a small number of U.S. forces in Iraq past a deadline agreed to by the U.S. and Iraq. . . . Gates, who had the same job under former President George W. Bush, says the deadline is still in force and will hold unless Iraq asks the U.S. to stay on. Gates says for his part he would like to see what he called a modest U.S. presence to train Iraqi forces, help with new equipment and perhaps perform intelligence operations.