Could it just be that Obama thinks he is Woodrow Wilson? Conservatives lose all suspicion on presidential power when it comes to foreign policy. Very strange. Why blindly believe him on this and then doubt him on everything else?
“Could it just be that Obama thinks he is Woodrow Wilson? Conservatives lose all suspicion on presidential power when it comes to foreign policy. Very strange. Why blindly believe him on this and then doubt him on everything else?”
Because it’s somewhat obvious to the military people I would guess that this speech and it’s primary objectives to this point in principle are one and the same in the speech.
The question is a political one though. What is the political will to follow through on this and to seriously go beyond the limited intel on Al Qaeda actors and take not only them out wherever possible (via Predator, etc.) and actually attempt to take down the whole operations network.
This is a FORMIDABLE challenge. And we just don’t know the answer to these important questions.
The speech indicates some serious steps but they are as I understand it inadequate on both counts. And we know our NATO allies will not step up. We have some great NATO soldiers, UK and France, Canada, just not enough of them.
And if that’s a problem now in Afghanistan, it doesn’t even begin to tackle the issues over the border in Pakistan. This is a huge, complex problem. I really don’t think we have an adequate policy here. It appears we are giving it a shot, but what’s behind it? Is there commitment, utter intent to take down Al Qaeda in Pakistan, and longevity to do so by taking on the Taliban?
That’s not clear. Not by a long shot. We just got a decent speech with policy intent today.
The more I think about the speech, the less impressed I am. Ask me a year to eighteen months out what I think. My guess is we will be discussing our inadequacies that led to the failure to forestall Al Qaeda.