Obama's Call to Arms in an Age of Limits

A superb speech by President Obama and I was encourage by the quote
from former President Eisenhower who saved the day for FDR and
Churchill.

Phyllis Kunz

so after 9 different war strategy meetings, Obama Opts for the Bush Cheney assesment given to him just after taking office---and you libs think Obama thinks for himself? But he did come up with his own idea....telling the taliban just when he will remove their problem, so they can just blend in and wait....and of course his gleeming adulation of Isalm--at West Point.....ha ha ha ha....OMG....who pays? Our Soldiers

Why does he insist on calling them the Tallyban. That is like Arnold and Calyfornia.

Let congress get off of their collective asses and go over there and when they get processed through Dover we will finally consider it sucessful.

Save the troops and send these useless politicians over and see what happens.

economic down fall -
the thing that would fix the economic down fall is not to give billons to companys, but give 2 millon$ to each tax payer, that would cost far less-about 600 millon, and the economic down fall would go up!

Judging Obama by his Afghan policy would be much easier if he had an actual Afghan policy. Instead, what cadets and the nation heard last night was a political strategy aimed at appeasing all sides by sending some troops, but not as many as McChrystal wanted, and by putting a date for withdrawal on the wall, but not as early as the anti-war left would have liked.

The man cannot make a firm decision because he has not core beliefs regarding Afghanistan or terrorism; he has yet to separate from the candidate whose every appearance seemed to include teh need for more troops there and the faster the better. Truth be told, Obama hoped that Bush would send in the troops so the new WH wouldn't have to, so that it could do as it has done since inauguration day and blame the previous administration for this, too.

Please. Even the Dems weren't against going into Afghanistan, except for perhaps Dennis Kucinich who is as relevant as the pet rock but is at least principled enough to be against just about every war, period. The One can't make a firm stand because he does not have one. He has no goal for that region, no vision, no plan, and last night's speech with its attempt to have it both ways is illustrative of that. Is he ever going to realize that it is time to stop campaigning and speechifying, and that it is time to make tough decisions about difficult subjects. That is part of the job description.

Great Video in response to Obama War speech:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZbkGtnR0ag

Your misguided sir. No one wants war but when it is thrust upon you by evil men flying planes into civilian buildings you have 2 choices. Make a stand and fight to win, or chose words and cowardly actions that only inbolden the enemy. We all know which is the Dem response and which is the rest of the country.

THIS PRESIDENT TOLD THE TALIBAN WHEN WE ARE LEAVING IMAGING IF AL QUIADA GOES ON THE AIR AND TELL US THAT IN JULY OF 2010 THEY ARE LEAVING WE WOULD DECLARE VICTORY. HOW IS HOPE AND CHANGE WORKING FOR YOU?

he's still just campaigning. he's a talker not a doer. he's more worried about stacking the deck on his favor for 2012 than anything else....and it shows.

I am worried that our young soldiers will become bullet fodder. As primative as they are, the Afghans are some of the most "toughened" people on planet earth. They are not metrosexuals who worry about lactose intolerance and what to wear.

We need to go back to the drawing board.

Dear Mr. Shapiro, america hasn't changed at all. The defenician of a president has. Men like J.F.K new what times like these required and how to inspire a nation. No Mr. Shapiro, I reject your definician of president. The nation is the same, the crises we've seen before, the lack of leadership is the new twist.

Last night President Obama had a golden opportunity to demonstrate that the world%u2019s only superpower is lead by a tough, determined, world leader, able to make difficult decisions. Instead, President Obama chose to take a hedged, triangulated position between those in America that support the war in Afghanistan and those that oppose it. There was more nuance in the President%u2019s address than there was determination and resolve, which is unfortunate for America and for international security around the globe.

There really are no good options for America and the situation in Afghanistan. Looking backwards into the rearview mirror does us no good; we are where we are and fair or not, the President is forced to look ahead and play the hand he has been dealt. As evidenced by the delay and lengthy deliberation regarding additional troop commitments, President Obama is learning that it is more difficult to actually lead a nation than it is to merely campaign to lead a nation.

Whether the best course of action is committing more troops or withdrawing could be debated by reasonable people, but it is less important than commitment and dedication to one or the other, with resolve. The President needed to get it right last night%u2014either we%u2019re all-in or we%u2019re out%u2014and he failed, choosing conditional commitment and putting his weakness and equivocation on full display for the world.

Rather than attempting to placate his left flank by holding back 25% of the 40,000 troops requested by General McChrystal, the President could have demonstrated he was in it to win it, giving the general the 40,000 troops he requested. Why hold back 10,000 troops? If ever an ounce of prevention were better than a pound of cure, this would be it%u2014give the general what he is requesting and %u201Cget %u2018er done.%u201D The left is not placated by his gesture to send 30,000 more troops and hold back 10,000, and history informs us well that underwhelming the enemy or relying on the pathetic troop commitments of our allies is a recipe for disaster and defeat.

Clearly, the ultimate pusillanimous act last night was announcing a troop draw-down in 18 months. This was not leadership, but a cowardly act that undermined any attempt by the President to even feign commitment, again serving only one purpose, to unsuccessfully attempt to appease the left.

The left and right are not happy with the President, nor is Middle America, which wants us out of Afghanistan, best achieved by either a total commitment to get out or bucking-up and committing overwhelming force. Giving General McChrystal less troops than he requested and announcing a draw-down in 18 months are jellyfish maneuvers, difficult to rationalize other than through a purely political prism. Middle America deserves leadership from President Obama and knows all too well that the only thing in the middle of the road is a dead possum on a dotted white line.

I SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN....

WHAT BRANCH OF THE SERVICE WAS BARRY IN....???.

Walter,

It is good to know that someone else honed in on the section on the speech pertaining to the cost(s) of war. Far too many are focused on and complaining about the timeline. That group will also b!tch and moan about the current state of our economy, rail against wasteful spending, and decry bailouts . But, in their collective next breath, ignore how much it cost to deploy our military in two separate theatres, simultaneously. Furthermore, they imagine our country's ability to fight two wars indefinitely, still, never thinking of the cost.

NorfWest

Is our country the only country in the world that feels compelled to tell our enemies what and when we are planning to attack and withdraw? What ever happened to that "loose lips sink ships" mentality. Shut the hell up and fight like you want to win you chicken sh** politicians.

Oh, by the way. What was his reason for shorting the troop increase by 10,000??? Great way to take the advice of your generals. Just because you played Risk a few times back in college does not mean you know what it takes to fight a war. Maybe he is planning on sending 10,000 Acorn supporters in their place so they can spin things for himself.

all is said but Wat is very promising can be broken i think we need to dig deeper than the facts of protecting America how about other country that people starve.the cultures are different but if carried in a bag other might have a different perspective.the only reason why its GREED

The speech was transparently political without a bit military thinking. Eighteen months! Obviously we'll be in the very initial stages of withdrawal just in time for the presidential elections and no one will be able to exactly figure out what the real picture is or the future outcome in Afganistan . We will be left with the President's rosy point of view. He will declare victory and is counting on the fog of war being so dense at that time that many will agree with him and vote for him.