Sen. Barack Obama just got his first big, fat "F" from the get-out-of-Iraq-now crowd. Good for him.

Obama has been a darling of anti-war Democrats because, while still in the Illinois Legislature, he called the Iraq invasion a "dumb war" and said he would have opposed funding for the conflict. But now, having voted for a withdrawal timetable as a member of the U.S. Senate, he and his colleagues are facing a veto showdown with President Bush.

Many in the Democratic Party are salivating for a stalemate that would starve the troops of funding, but Obama said over the weekend on CNN, "I think that nobody wants to play chicken with our troops on the ground."

The party's fringe is crying heresy. "Obama caves to Bush," wrote influential blogger Markos Moulitsas. "Instead of threatening Bush with even more restrictions and daring him to veto funding for the troops out of pique, Barack just surrendered to him."

Wrong. If Obama surrendered to anything, it was reality.