pushing back?

Yesterday the Pentagon floated a rumor which a number of news services picked up and ran without investigating. Here it is as it appeared on the McClatchy D.C. site:

The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama's pledge that he'd begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials have told McClatchy.

Please note that there is no attribution of sources there, just un-named "administration and military officials." After the article had appeared in newspapers and was picked up by broadcast media, the White House responded with this:

The White House vehemently denies that there is any change in policy. "The president has been crystal clear that we will begin drawing down troops in July of 2011. There is absolutely no change to that policy," said Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman.

Is Obama pushing back against the Pentagon's usurpation of Constitutionally-mandated presidential powers as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces? Seriously?

If so, it's the first time since Truman fired MacArthur that any president has, that I'm aware of.

This might be large and great news, more significant than it appears on the surface. Since the Johnson administration, the US has steadily evolved into more and more of a military dictatorship. If Obama actually has a spine after all, I applaud yesterday's events as change I can believe in.

Got this information from Crooks and Liars dot com.