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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (126238)	12/3/2009 3:40:50 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 542195

Very nice analysis. I hope yer right. "Or maybe he just can't see it clearly enough or doesn't have the moral and political courage to bite the bullet? I hope not. I hope he knows what he's doing and that there's a method to this madness." I think he sees it clearly; I've seen that with other issues like energy and climate. He's leaving a lot unsaid, but he totally gets those, and the methods I see are exactly (except too small) what I would do, which many think is madness anyway. We'll just have to see how it works out. Takes a lot of political courage to piss off yer entire base. Or more madness.

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (126238)	12/3/2009 5:14:01 PM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 542195

Well said, Ed. I like the argument.

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (126238)	12/3/2009 11:29:16 PM
From: Bread Upon The Water	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542195

I'd like to second the thoughtful analysis comment attributed to these remarks. However, the whole thrust of the message is that Obama has successfully negotiated the politics of the decision however it turns out. Which is one thing if you are a politician or political junkie, but entirely different matter if you are a soldier. In that case one's concerns are primarily centered on whether the strategy gives one a fighting chance at military success without necessarily one having to die to achieve it, or if one has to take casualties as part of the process, than that the goal is obtainable and, hence, worth the cost. Here, with the strategy decided upon, I think there is a fig leaf of cover for talking up a win without much possibility of really achieving it. If you take assorted quotes from Military Commanders that have been in the news, the general assessment is that the time line for having the Afghan forces ready to go is like 4-5 years out in most cases. Which if accurate means we are just going to waste the 30 billion and the requisite lives that another 18 months will require. Its a lot to ask of soldiers to go into that kind of task with those limitations and time constraints. So I consider this a political victory of sorts at the expense any real world sucess--and at the expense of the soldiers who are going to involved. This is just my opinion of course and I would like it to turn out to be erroneous.