Damning the Dems in fall's election

Charles Hurt - Inside Washington

WASHINGTON -- Declaring the Iraq war over last night, President Obama at the same moment waved the white flag for Democrats in the November elections.

Speaking in prime time, Obama made a mockery of his -- and his party's -- longstanding opposition to this war in Iraq.

He undermined the very campaign that ushered him into the White House and gave Democrats their huge majorities in Congress.

It was as if, in keeping his promise to end the war in Iraq, Obama had become a convert to it.

He heralded the very success he had predicted could never be attained.

He lauded the defeat of an evil regime "that had terrorized its people" -- a despot he once considered an irrelevant distraction from what he called the "real war" that needed to be won in Afghanistan.

And, speaking to soldiers at Fort Bliss earlier yesterday, he said that because of this fight, "America is more secure."

Obama even talked about the importance of Iraq as a "friend" and a "partner" in the Middle East.

Literally, the address could have been delivered word-for-word by former President George W. Bush, whose steadfastness in Iraq earned him the blind hatred of so many liberals.

The Herculean flip-floppery Obama performed in the Oval Office spells bad news for embattled Democrats running for re-election this year in two ways.

First, the president abandoned on the field so many of his fellow Democrats in Congress who have protested this war on principle from the very start.

They believe -- and still believe -- that it was an unnecessary lark and a massive waste of American blood and treasure.

Saddam Hussein may have been evil, but he was not our problem and certainly not worth removing.

But there was Obama, the old anti-war candidate, dishing all these plaudits for the invasion of Iraq as if he had dreamed it all up himself.

Thank goodness that in all his vast humility, Obama told the soldiers at Fort Bliss that he would decline to take a "victory lap" or to be "self-congratulatory."

THE second reason this is terrible news for Democrats on the bal lot this fall is the mes sage Obama sent to all those voters who threw in behind him so zealously because of his pure anti-war credentials.

You can be sure the young and the liberal and the hopeful who turned out in stunning numbers for the huge Obama rallies during the 2008 campaign will stay home this November, making just one more reason Democrats in Congress are looking at their bleakest prospects in modern history. But in the bloodbath, there will be one who floats above it all and suffers not.

Because Obama himself is not on the ballot, he will be spared.

And the more rage that voters take out on Democrats in these midterm elections, the less angry they will be two years from now when Obama next sees his name on the ballot.

In fact, his best hope for re-election may be a thorough trouncing of Democrats. If the GOP captures the House or Senate or both, Obama will have something to run against in 2012, saving the nation from what he will portray as a right-wing takeover.

Thank goodness for all his modesty, or Obama just might do a victory lap.

churt@nypost.com