UP until this week many pundits believed the recent positive news out of Iraq posed a unique problem for Barack Obama, who, despite some recent hedging, has always supported withdrawing American troops from the country. Would the potential president really tell his generals to end a war that may finally be turning a corner? But this week Mr Obama received an unsolicited gift from Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, who said he's considering a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops. Now many are wondering how John McCain might respond to such a declaration from Iraq's leaders.

So far it's tough to tell. In 2004 Mr McCain told the Council on Foreign Relations that if asked to leave, America would have to withdraw.

[I]f that scenario evolves then I think it's obvious that we would have to leave because -- if it was an elected government of Iraq, and we've been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government then I think we would have other challenges, but I don't see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people.



But the McCain campaign's most recent statement was more non-committal. "Senator McCain has always said that conditions on the ground—including the security threats posed by extremists and terrorists, and the ability of Iraqi forces to meet those threats—would be key determinants in US force levels," said Randy Scheunemann, Mr McCain's foreign-policy adviser, avoiding the question.

Mr Maliki has sure put Mr McCain in a box. The candidate has prided himself on standing firm on Iraq—he has maintained his hawkish stance and criticised those who even utter the word "timetable". Moreover, his campaign has attacked Mr Obama's "constantly shifting positions" on Iraq. So it would be a difficult political manoeuvre for Mr McCain to respond at all positively to Mr Maliki's idea. Meanwhile, Mr Obama might begin to ask a receptive American electorate, "Who is it that wants America to stay in Iraq?"