Young Hamlet’s Agony [Krauthammer]

National Review ^ | October 10th 2009 | Charles Krauthammer

[Steelfish]

October 9, 2009

Young Hamlet’s Agony Will he listen to Emanuel and Biden or Petraeus and McChrystal?

Charles Krauthammer.

The genius of democracy is the rotation of power, which forces the opposition to be serious — particularly about things like war, about which until January 20 of this year Democrats were decidedly unserious.

When the Iraq War (which a majority of Senate Democrats voted for) ran into trouble and casualties began to mount, Democrats followed the shifting winds of public opinion and turned decidedly anti-war. But needing political cover because of their post-Vietnam reputation for weakness on national defense, they adopted Afghanistan as their pet war.

“I was part of the 2004 Kerry campaign, which elevated the idea of Afghanistan as ‘the right war’ to conventional Democratic wisdom,” wrote Democratic consultant Bob Shrum shortly after President Obama was elected. “This was accurate as criticism of the Bush administration, but it was also reflexive and perhaps by now even misleading as policy.”

Which is a clever way to say that championing victory in Afghanistan was a contrived and disingenuous policy in which Democrats never seriously believed, a convenient two-by-four with which to bash George Bush over Iraq — while still appearing warlike enough to fend off the soft-on-defense stereotype.

Brilliantly crafted and perfectly cynical, the “Iraq War bad, Afghan War good” posture worked. Democrats first won Congress, then the White House. But now, unfortunately, they must govern. No more games. No more pretense.

So what does their commander in chief do now with the war he once declared had to be won but had been almost criminally under-resourced by Bush?

Perhaps provide the resources to win it?

You would think so. And that’s exactly what Obama’s handpicked commander requested on August 30 — a surge of 30,000 to 40,000 troops to...

[MNJohnnie]

“I was part of the 2004 Kerry campaign, which elevated the idea of Afghanistan as ‘the right war’ to conventional Democratic wisdom,” wrote Democratic consultant Bob Shrum shortly after President Obama was elected. “This was accurate as criticism of the Bush administration, but it was also reflexive and perhaps by now even misleading as policy.

Only a idiot Democrat like Shrum, could claim they were right while admitting they were totally wrong. Another example of why these Democrat Party clowns can not be trusted with any measure of any political power at any level.

[Sacajaweau]

As always, Charlie makes his point.

After all is said and done, Obama is nothing more than "Present". HE IS NOT A DECISION MAKER!!!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Has anyone said anything about Darfur lately. A lot of the “anti-war” types used to claim that they thought Darfur would be a “righteous war” — unlike Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, it was just deflection — but, why haven't they been called on it?

[Aaron0617]

great article, thanks for posting...

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Obama is showing the world he is weak. This invites other nations to go against us. War is coming my friends. Our enemies would not let an opportunity like this pass. Look for war in Africa, South America and East Europe, as well as the Middle East. I think that lots of people are going to die because of Obama’s weakness and idealism.

[AnalogReigns]

War is coming my friends. Our enemies would not let an opportunity like this pass. Look for war in Africa, South America and East Europe, as well as the Middle East. I think that lots of people are going to die because of Obama’s weakness and idealism.

Nail on the head.