Quick point here. Back in the heat of the early primaries, when Clinton and Obama were jockeying for position, the Illinois Senator suggested two significant changes in US foreign policy: opening dialogue with even implaccable US enemies, and pursuing Bin Laden and top terrorists into Pakistan if we had good actionable intelligence.

Hillary, who was looking for an opening to demonstrate her own readiness as Commander in Chief, famously labeled Obama “naive and inexperienced” in response. Other establishment candidates followed suit.

Republicans and the White House piled on, delighted to hobble Obama on a set of national security issues.

But here we are in September 2008, and the Bush White House (along with its GOP choir) has converted nearly every single principle of Obama’s emerging foreign policy into official US doctrine.

We’ve opened dialogue with the Iranians; we’ve moved halfway and more toward the North Koreans on their nukes. And now that Musharraf is out of the picture, Bush has signalled US readiness to pursue extremists over the border into Pakistan.

Forget Bin Laden; Bush is now saying that we have the right to cross the Pakistan line to capture anyone and everyone.

And technically, for the first time, we’re working against a timetable in Iraq.

Now granted, having your ideas picked up by George W. Bush isn’t necessarily the sort of endorsement an emerging statesman might prefer, but it seems inarguable that Barack Obama’s ideas, far more than those of John McCain, have already transformed US policy.

Still, Obama did use the phrase “lipstick on a pig.”

So it’s a wash, really.