Obama's campaign has previously stated that Obama will support a missile defense system when the technology is proved workable. Today Lt. Gen. Trey Obering said that he will tell Obama that the technology is functional.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122654051563123143.html

The Obama transition promptly issued a rebuttal: "President-elect Obama made no commitment on it. His position is as it was throughout the campaign -- that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable."

Today, Lt. Gen Trey Obering reported that missile defense technology is workable.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/12/obama.missiles/index.html

Lt. Gen. Trey Obering said Wednesday that missile technology is developed much further than some may believe it to be.

"Our testing has shown not only can we hit a bullet with a bullet, we can hit a spot on the bullet with a bullet. The technology has caught up," Obering said Wednesday...

"What we have discovered is, a lot of those folks that have not been in this administration seem to be dated in terms of the program. They are kind of calibrated back in the 2000 timeframe," Obering said.

So, once again, Obama's going to quickly be in a position where he has to lead and make decisions that might result in some people not liking him as much as they do now. If he cancels missile defense in Europe, it'll be another campaign position that he has changed. If he accepts that the technology is ready and follows through with his stated position to deploy the system when it's technologically ready, he'll upset the Russians. And upset some domestic liberals.

Obama already seems to be avoiding taking any position on the financial crisis--perhaps to try to avoid eroding his support or increasing his unfavorable ratings before inauguration. The question of missile defense in Europe is going to be a second issue that he's probably going to need to take a stand on soon.