• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 6, 2009

Early last year, it appeared Barack Obama -- able to stake ground as the anti-Iraq war candidate as the the country was desperate to end the conflict -- would be able to ride his opposition to the White House. But by September, the economy had become the dominant issue.

And CBS News’ Bob Schieffer is highlighting indeed how much the economy has overtaken Iraq as a concern among Americans and political issue (in fairness, the surge has helped stabilize the situation on the ground).

But Schieffer asks who would have thought that Obama would hardly mention Iraq in his inauguration address. And when he announced the troops would be coming home, it would be the third or fourth story on the evening news.