The current security problem of the Iraq war is that it has been screwed up so bad, that pulling out is as dangerous as staying in.

The political problem is that Bush is just buying time until he can pass the war to the Democrats so that the GOP can blame them for losing it. He can buy all the time he needs because the Democratic majority is too small to force any action. In fact, with the Republocrat, Lieberman as the deciding vote in the Senate, legislative opposition to the war is impossible.

Remember, that they need 2/3rds to overcome Bush's veto.

I don't want Obama to pull all of our troops out right away. I want him to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq as long as is necessary. But I do want him to disengage us from the Iraqi civil war.

The political structure of the USA is basically what you see. Its not "good cop/bad cop" is is a tug of war for a very small band of middle ground. The corrupting influence of Lobbyists and lax election laws exacerbate these problems to a sublime level.