Posted on 11/15/2009 8:32:29 AM PST by kristinn
"Wobbly." "Indecisive." "Dithering."
The old guard of the D.C. liberal press establishment is telling Barack Obama in no uncertain terms that he has taken too long to decide a course of action in Afghanistan.
Writing in their respective home newspapers, the Washington Post's David Broder, Jackson Diehl and the Los Angeles Times' Doyle McManus each penned columns published today that serve notice to Obama that his latest postponement of a resolution to the debate on Afghanistan has damaged his image as commander-in-chief such that they can no longer provide him cover.
In the op-eds, Obama is compared unfavorably to his predecessor, President George W. Bush, and is warned that even some supporters are wondering whether former Vice President Richard B. Cheney was right in his asessment of Obama as "dithering."
Broder, known as the dean of the D.C. press corps, wrote of Obama:
The president, notwithstanding his earlier rhetoric and actions, has hesitated to resolve the issue. Obama needs to remember what Clark Clifford, one of Harry Truman's closest advisers, said: that the president "believed that even a wrong decision was better than no decision at all."
Meantime, events in Afghanistan support McChrystal's prediction that delay in expanding the U.S. troop commitment will almost certainly lead to gains for the Taliban and greater risk for U.S. and allied troops.
In all this dithering, it's easy to forget a few fundamentals...
Jackson Diehl, Deputy Editor of the editorial page of The Post writes that no one questioned President Bush's heart when it came to Iraq in the dark days of 2006 while he deliberated for several months before going against the prevailing political wisdom by choosing the surge strategy.
Obama, notes Diehl, has even sympathizers wondering whether he "lacks resolve" with his public inconsistencies:
On Afghanistan, Obama's rhetoric has been noticeably wobbly -- more so, perhaps, than his actual thinking. In Phoenix on Aug. 17, he famously called the conflict "a war of necessity"; just a month later, in a national television interview, he appeared to question whether American forces needed to be in Afghanistan at all. A couple of weeks after that, he told his National Security Council that withdrawing from Afghanistan, or even reducing the current U.S. force, was not an option. Yet since then both he and his senior aides have repeatedly talked about Afghan President Hamid Karzai as if he were dispensable. Is it possible to abandon a government without removing any of the troops that are fighting to keep it in power?
Diehl concludes with a warning about the toll Obama's perceived lack of desire to win will have on the mission:
Obama's prolonged deliberation would be understandable if he were choosing between escalating or ending the war, as Bush was. Yet he narrowed his options many weeks ago -- and still has been unable to come to closure. Last Thursday the president was presented with various reinforcement options; rather than decide, he reportedly asked for another study about when and how fighting could be turned over to the Afghan army.
Another week or two of thinking won't hurt. But the impression that gets created is of a president who knows what course he must take -- one of expanding American involvement in a difficult and increasingly unpopular war -- but can't bring himself to embrace it. It's an image that risks undermining any commitment Obama eventually makes. In the end, it's not enough for a president to be seen as having thought through a decision to send more troops to war. Enemies, allies and the country also need to be convinced that he believes in it.
McManus writes the harshest column of the three:
...two months into his second "comprehensive policy review," after eight Cabinet-level meetings and several slipped target dates, the president still hasn't made up his mind.
In George W. Bush, we had a president who shot first and asked questions later. In Barack Obama, we have a president who asks the right questions but hesitates to pull the trigger.
Three weeks ago, former Vice President Dick Cheney accused Obama of "dithering." At the time, the charge sounded premature and partisan -- but now some of Obama's own supporters have begun to wonder whether Cheney was right.
Last week, the president's indecision became even more apparent after White House aides let it be known that he was asking the military for more "exit strategies" -- what one official called "off-ramps" -- in case things go badly.
...The long debate has made Obama look indecisive and uncertain -- because he has been.
This trio of respected Washington voices will likely have no impact on Obama's decision making process. That will drag out until long David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel tell Obama it is time to announce the decision. However these columns will have an impact on how Obama is thought of in political circles. Think of it as a green light that signals it is okay for the rest of the old guard in Washington to criticize the Messiah.
For God’s sake, Obama has been practicing double speak forever and these lefty clowns are just picking up on it?
Perhaps if they had paid a little more critical attention sooner, things would not be as they are.
...The long debate has made Obama look indecisive and uncertain — because he has been.
These are things that would never be said about any “President” of the United States. Wouldn’t be said about Dick Cheney either. Adults are not indecisive or uncertain.
“But I think we have to gamble that security will bring political progress — as it has done in Iraq.”
From David Broder.
Hell just froze over.
"heart" = "sincerity," "love of country," "concern for military." (All questionable in Obama.)
White House aides let it be known that he was asking the military for more "exit strategies" -- what one official called "off-ramps" -- in case things go badly.
"off ramps" = someone or something, other than Obama, to take the blame
“...greater risk for U.S. and allied troops...”
i.e., more needlessly-killed Americans thanks to Zero.
Is that the Hope and Change the libs voted for?
“But the impression that gets created is of a president who knows what course he must take — one of expanding American involvement in a difficult and increasingly unpopular war — but can’t bring himself to embrace it”
Perfectly describes the psychology of a woman (or man) in an abusive relationship who supposedly wants to get out but just never quite does.
Pathetic in a so-called CIC.
“Vice President Dick Cheney accused Obama of “dithering.” “
Cheney knows about decision-making, having made decisions probably hundreds of times each week as the head of a large company. The Big Zero never made a tough decision in his entire life.
Obama is so narcissistic he forgot the number one rule between lib politicians and their “shillers’:
You can’t just send payola and have absolutely everyone be happy. A few media types are arroagant enough themselves that they want to keep looking “good” when they shill for commie -Dear Reader- RATS.
At some point Broder got tired of looking not just like a senile old (Lenin era) Marxist but perhaps more like the consummate fool.
“As Obama noted, he’d rather make a good decision than a fast one.”
And here we have it, ladies and gentlemen, THE defining statement between blathering bureaucrats’ so-called management style, and private business and the war battlefield, where countless decisions have to be made with split-second timing and no time to “contemplate the outcome”.
The difference: jobs, life or death, and meandering, go-nowhere, produce nothing (but escape blame, which is the whole point of the so-called contemplation).
Bureaucrat, a&# kissing Dear Leader sucks. And if you want my real opinion, just ask me.
The only “change” were getting with this President on the
war issue is: We have a man in charge who thinks he knows
better than Generals and the troops fighting over there.
He needs to resign - and if he has trouble making that
decision we can help with “impeachment”.
He has stated that his goal is to make sure the Taliban can’t say we are occupying their country.
Makes NO sense, but then nothing he has done to date on any issue makes any logical sense.
Every week a new excuse for his indecision.
Elections, corruption, new plans, old ideas, blah blah blah. Once again he is voting present.
I agree!
The left wing, including Obama, painted itself into a corner by pretending to be gung ho for Afghanistan as a tactic to criticize the war in Iraq. Now they have to figure out a way to climb down without looking like a bunch of scheming weasels and/or incompetent. Good luck squaring that circle, Obama!
The Iraqis said we were occupiers, until they realized that we were committed to killing the bad guys who were killing innocent Iraqis.
I doubt Obama can understand the concept of commitment, or of war itself, for that matter.
Obuma the Gutless Wonder
Sometimes a pig's ass is pork...
Lots of talk from the Iraqi’s until they thought we were leaving.
This idiot wants an exit date. That ought to work well.
The man is a danger to the free world.
Perhaps Obama and company’s real goal is for America to lose another war with disastrous consequences. In 1842 the Afghans annihilated a British army of 16,000. There was one survivor.
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