The crowd apparently liked what it heard at AIPAC, and–contrary to the Democratic hit squad assembled to criticize the speech–thought it really was about Israel. (It was a very revealing that the Democrats considered a speech largely devoted to Israel’s security threats–Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran–to be lacking relevancy to AIPAC.)

But the surest sign of success by the McCain camp is Barack Obama’s plea to change the subject. After a few weeks of tangling with McCain on Iraq, Iran, and Israel he has had enough, declaring, “it seems like all Senator McCain is talking about on the campaign trail is Iraq.” Well . . . yes. What is anyone talking about? But enough of that for the Obama camp.

Obama is right, though. He isn’t going to win on national security experience. And with Iraq looking much improved, it has now become a sore point for his campaign. His hopes really do rest with being able to shift voters’ attention to the economy, health care, and other domestic matters. The challenge for McCain will be both to keep up the drumbeat on foreign policy and to meet Obama on the domestic front. It won’t be every day that he gets a standing ovation at AIPAC and a made-to-order rant from Ahmadinejad.