Now that he has finally secured the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama has begun his big shift to the center of the political sphere. We all know that candidates for the nomination of their party shift to the left (Democrats) or right (Republicans), only to move to the center once they’re nominated. In that regard too, Obama isn’t different from any other politician.

And so, Obama suddenly is turning into a hawk - well, relatively that is - when it comes to Iran and declares his full and unconditional support, and love, for Israel.

Obama, speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an influential pro-Israel lobbying group, said (in which what will undoubtedly anger his more liberal supporters, many of whom aren’t exactly fans of Israel): “Any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”

He once again reiterated his commitment to Israel, calling himself “a good friend” of the Jewish nation-state.

When it comes to the subject of Israel, I would like to hear Obama explain once how he plans on establishing peace in the region. On his website it says that he wants to work with Israeli and Palestinians leaders in order to create to states, co-existing beside each other; one Jewish nation-state, and one state for the Palestinians (Jordanians actually).

That sounds nice to many people, but one wonders how Obama plans to achieve that goal.

For the record; on his website he also expresses strong support for Israel, even though many of his main advisers aren’t exactly famous for their unconditional support for this tiny state, surrounded by mortal enemies.

Not only that, he also called Iran “a grave threat” (the biggest threat in the Middle East even) and continued his shift on whether or not he’s willing to talk with Iran’s leaders. In the past, Obama wanted to meet with them without any preconditions. Nowadays, however, he says that he only wants to meet with them “under appropriate conditions.”

What’s most interesting about this shift (”under appropriate conditions”) is that he still says on his website (touted by some as the place for information about Obama’s proposed policies) that “Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.”

As an observer I can’t help but wonder which policy Obama wants to pursue as president. If he has changed his views on Iran and on talking to the regime there, I’d say good man. But it would be nice if he’d take the time to tell his staff to update his website accordingly. Flip-flopping is perfectly alright, but at least make sure you give voice to one message at a time.

As Ed Morrissey explains, it’s somewhat strange for Obama too oppose the Lieberman-Kyle amendment, if he truly believes that Iran poses such a threat to the Middle East, Israel (a country he so dearly loves) and the United States itself.

We will see more of this in the coming weeks and months I am sure. Obama can’t win the general election on the same platform he ran on when he tried to become the Democratic nominee.

The same goes, of course, for John McCain, but he has the advantage that he became the Republican nominee a long time ago already. As such, he only had to shift to the right for a ridiculously short amount of time. Immediately afterwards he could move back to the place where he feels most comfortable; the middle.

We’ll see where Obama ends up when he’s elected president (for Republicans who think McCain has a good chance of winning, that should be if instead of when).