Short takes

1. An Iraqi government spokesman has said that the June 30 deadline for all U.S. combat troops to withdraw from towns and cities will not be extended, despite the recent upswing in violence. That date was a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Iraq and includes full withdrawal by the end of 2011. In less than 20 months, we will be out of this long unnecessary war.

Of course, we won't be through paying for it in our lifetime, thanks to a thoughtful president who didn't want to give up his cherished tax cuts for the superrich.

2. Arlen Specter is a hero of sorts right now, having done the politically expedient thing but also put the Republicans on notice that their brand isn't selling well in the country. But Specter has a way of disappointing. I remember several times as chair of Judiciary, he would hint that he was going to do one thing, and then backtrack after pressure was put on him.

Now he's being quoted as saying he said he was now a Democrat but he didn't say he was going to be a "loyal" Democrat. He's already announced that he's not changing his opposition to a couple of important Democratic issues.

3. Speaking of Republicans, they're already planning their opposition strategy to Obama's first Supreme Court nomination, without waiting to see who he picks. Now there's a real political philosophy. Don't even wait for the nomination to see who it is, just plan to try to derail it. And then they bleat about not getting their way on controversial legislation. "Just say No" is not a negotiating strategy.

4. Jim Baker, Bush family 'fixer' who more than once was called upon to get dubya out of trouble (including the Florida recount) now speaks some truth. He says, when asked about a national service obligation: "But one thing that makes it harder to go to war is to have a draft, because when you have a draft, then everybody's got a stake in it, and the costs of war are brought home much more vividly and vigorously to the American people."

If only we'd still had the draft, we either wouldn't have gone into Iraq or we'd have gotten out long ago.

5. Jack Kemp has died. And for once I'm going to praise a Republican. He described himself as "a bleeding heart conservative." I'd say he was the original (and perhaps the only true) "compassionate conservative." Although staunchly conservative on fiscal matters and on abortion and school prayer, he appealed to liberals with his outreach toward minorities and the poor. As Chairman of HUD during Bush I's administration, he worked to overcome urban blight and homelessness and was an early advocate for compassionate immigration reform.