Obama voting "Present" on Afghanistan?

[ISASO]

Who is the VP these days, Joe Biden or Michael Moore?

I suspect Obama talks to Moore and the other isolationists more frequently than he does his own generals in the field.

[Maggie]

ISASO,

Mr. Biden is the Vice-President but I don’t think you should find that particularly comforting – even when compared to Mr. Moore. That being said, hopefully you are being a little to hard on the President.

President Obama’s “reassessment” of a strategy everyone assumed he had settled on back in, I think, March (because he told us that was the case) coupled with the fact that he apparently charged General McChrystal with the task developing a framework to successfully implement that strategy is disconcerting. Notwithstanding, it is not entirely surprising based upon the way President Obama has previously handled, starting during the campaign, what he deems to be difficult decisions or “surprising” developments. He tends to twiddle his thumbs for a while.

Now if it’s genuine, I welcome the President’s willingness to rethink his position on an issue in which he invested so much political capital and machismo. Not to mention the impact on the lives of the men and women in the Armed Forces. The problem is the Administration has not really given a valid reason for the possible need for a change in course.

If he sticks with McChrystal it appears, the President’s challenge is largely political — he must endure anger from his base and may not have a majority of the public with him, at least initially. Also, Afghanistan has always been a more challenging theater than Iraq, for a lot of reasons. The positive side, for the President is – he does have a higher approval rating than Bush did when he had to make this kind of decision in Iraq and most Republicans and conservatives will support him in a way the Democrats and progressives did not support Bush.

In the end, I think he is going to do the right thing but he needs to make a decision quickly – which doesn’t appear to be his style – except when it concerns the actions of police officers – just kidding. I may disagree with the President most of the time – but the man is not stupid. And choosing between the advice of General McChrystal and the advice of Joe Biden is not exactly brain surgery.

[ISASO]

Yes, I was hard on him. Actually, I feel for him. It must be painful to do the right thing for the country while appeasing your boyz, Michael Moore and Jeremiah Wright.

It's amazing he can decide what to have for breakfast in the morning. He is a remarkable individual and has to be considered one of the finest Presidents of all time.

[Maggie]

Yes, I was hard on him. Actually, I feel for him. It must be painful to do the right thing for the country while appeasing your boyz, Michael Moore and Jeremiah Wright.

It's amazing he can decide what to have for breakfast in the morning. He is a remarkable individual and has to be considered one of the finest Presidents of all time.

I agree he should have had his act together by now; however, I imagine it is never an easy decision to commit our soldiers to a combat zone.

The ironic thing is President Obama's handling of Afghanistan, up until he started hedging a few weeks ago during his all out Sunday morning media blitz, is one area in which I would have given him fairly high marks.

[WuDrWu]

..........However, I imagine it is never an easy decision to commit our soldiers to a combat zone.

A decision, I imagine, that almost all of us cannot fathom.

The ironic thing is President Obama's handling of Afghanistan, up until he started hedging a few weeks ago during his all out Sunday morning media blitz, is one area in which I would have given him fairly high marks.

Agreed. I believe he was showing a strong leadership quality and behaving, oh I don't know, presidential, as you say, up until a few weeks ago.

[Maggie]

This is what a serious leader sounds like:

General Stanley McChrystal