Odd political move on Bush’s part: The president has distanced himself from some of the Iraq Study group’s recommendations, particularly pulling back combat brigades and engaging Iran and Syria.

From the story:

“But Mr. Bush, in his first extended comments on the study, pushed back. With Mr. Blair by his side, the president said he needed to be ‘flexible and realistic’ in considering troop movements, and made clear he would impose preconditions for talking to Iran and Syria that neither side is willing to accept. He was especially animated in describing what he said would be the consequences of a failure to stabilize Iraq, saying that future generations of Americans would be put at risk.

“The back-and-forth came as the Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council moved ahead on their own reevaluations of policy in Iraq. The president expects to receive reports from each over the next week to 10 days, and plans to speak to the American people sometime before the end of the year about what both he and the Baker-Hamilton commission are calling ‘the way forward’ in Iraq.”

Now, he might be right on both fronts. But the thing is, Bush is looking obstinate by emphasizing his contentions. There are many points of agreement between the administration and the study group.

Jonah Goldberg pointed out on The Corner:

“The draw down of troops, the imbedding, the training, the pressure on the Iraqis etc etc: all of these things are either already being tried, have been tried or are about to be tried. The report undercuts the Murtha crowd by delegitimizing the quick bug-out (AKA redeployment) option and makes staying in Iraq at least until ‘08 the ‘conventional’ or ‘mainstream’ point of view.

“For Bush, isn’t this the only part of the ISG report that matters? And when it comes to the actual situation in Iraq, the report basically confirms established policies of the White House and the Pentagon. So, in effect, doesn’t the heralded bipartisan commission in effect give Bush the leeway to — ahem — stay the course?”

By playing this up, Bush could look like he’s willing to take advice, while not changing his policy preferences at all. Instead, he’s just fanning the flames of partisan conflict.

I also wrote about the study group here, arguing for caution on talking to Iran and Syria.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://www.therationale.com and http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.