Posted on 12/04/2009 8:34:28 AM PST by flowerplough
Subheaded: Obama may soon find out that he can't talk his way out of Afghanistan.
On Tuesday night, we got the presidents Grand Unified Theory on Afghanistan, and in it we may have begun to witness the limits of the political efficacy of the Big Obama Speech.
Given what he had to work withno good optionsthe president did the best he could, but the question is, who's listening? He reminded us that Afghanistan was a war that al-Qaida started, not us, and that we only went after the Taliban because they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, after he killed 3,000 people on 9/11. He reminded us that the guys who occupied the White House before him made the monumental mistake of fighting a war of choice in Iraq, while neglecting one of necessity in Afghanistan.
He encouraged us to think back to the unity we felt in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and exhorted us to try to renew that feeling as he tries to to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future. Americans, however, may no longer be interested in how the war started, just how soon it ends.
The president promised the cadets at West Point, on whose shoulders it will fall to fight the war, a mission that is clearly defined and worthy of their service. Though he talked about defeating al-Qaida and its extremist allies as a narrowly defined mission, he took 35 minutes to situate that mission in proper contextthe trillion dollars already spent on the war; the poor comparisons to Vietnam; why more troops mean a shorter war; and the importance of a target date for exit.
(Excerpt) Read more at theroot.com ...
The picture accompanying your post is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.