No more excuses. Increase the troops or bring them home.

He can't. He has been caught in a trap of his own making with his words urging increased attention to the area while his own party deserts him. He is simply hoping McChrystal can muddle on without the Administration having to make a major decision either way.

I agree with Christos ... totally on this point.

But, Charles seems to also offer a fairly good point.

I think the issue President Obama is pondering is not what the best strategy is in the way a normal person might think he means it (of if that was the case he would already have made the decision). I think he's looking for the best one of two good strategies. The first a strategy to be able to lose/get out without angering half the country. The second a strategy to win and go all out with what is needed there to win without angering the other half - his base. He's trying to decide which "strategy" benefits him most.

Seems the only real decision he is capable of making is the one in which half of American citizens (the half that are tea party attendees) are terrorists.

+shrug+ Maybe we ought to send some volunteer conservatives over to hide behind rocks and shout bad things about Obama and socialism at our troops from the top of mountain ridges; I think he and his left wing supporters would totally support a troop surge to root out that kind of trouble maker. +sigh+

Charles Temm JR Nov 4, 2009, 12:58pm EST
He can't. He has been caught in a trap of his own making with his words urging increased attention to the area while his own party deserts him. He is simply hoping McChrystal can muddle on without the Administration having to make a major decision either way.

I think he has made his decision now. I was surprised that he prefaced his recent statements about needing more time with the words he wanted an exit strategy put together first.

That was a decision and a very decisive one. We are leaving, sooner than later but not so fast as to really damn his Administration with abandoning Afghanistan. Unfortunately, it gave the Taliban evidence to prove they will outlast the US there and to the Afghans on our side (or at least not actively against us) that we are no longer in for the long term. This was a critical decision though for some reason, no one is treating it as such.

He'll use the Karzai corruption as an excuse to neither reinforce significantly or commit to any clear strategic goals.

Just bring them home, now, every last one-- exit Afghanistan on the same timetable as Iraq.

Enough is enough, Karzai is corrupt and there is no reason to prop him up. Let's just GET OUT NOW ! ! !