Your defence to the MSM line about Obama "altering" his views on Iraq is that he really has not altered anything and he has always said A, B and C? Great, perfectly true.

But you already lost.

You  have accepted the MSM premise that Obama in fact meant he would change his plans, and at that point that becomes the argument.

Obama said he would refine his plans. "Refine" has a simple, meaning and it is not "alter." It is "improve" or "to make more specific" or "to remove unknowns/uncertainties/ambiguities." A mathematician could refer to it as "reducing."

I plan a visit to Marxland, a solidarity themepark with egalitarian rollercoasters. As the visit approaches, I refine my plan to consist of 7 days. I can further refine it by deciding that I will take People's Airways there instead of hitchhiking. If I should like to extend my visit to two weeks, I can revise my plans.

Really. The "low-information voters" the media likes to disparage understand what "refine" means. Why does the media not?