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Barack Obama did something truly historic in his speech from the Oval Office yesterday. He praised his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Obama hailed Bush for his steadfast support of US troops and for his undeniable love of country. Good patriots and reasonable people disagreed on Iraq, the US President said.

It was a smart thing to say, for several reasons.

One, it's true. Obama himself has essentially followed Bush's policies on Iraq and Afghanistan, implementing in Afghanistan the same surge (under the same general, not incidentally) that Bush implemented to such good effect in Iraq. Although Obama is presenting his withdrawal of main US combat troops from Iraq, with 50,000 remaining, as keeping a promise, in fact the Democratic base is pretty unhappy with the way...