The only positive I could find in last night's address is that it was -- finally -- a sober, carefully considered presentation of a strategy (and I use that term somewhat loosely), as opposed to another overt and disgusting swaggerfest.

My first reaction was that Obama should have positioned this as an ultimatum for the "Afpakistan" leadership: "We'll give you an 18-month push, and then it's on you." But then, it's not as if we were asked to drop in and kick the Taliban out in the first place. The original mission was, to a degree, justifiable and right. But once abandoned -- thankyouverymuch, George W. Cheney -- there is no going back for another shot at it. We're not going to find Bin Laden. Neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan give a crap about stability. Just pick up your toys and go home.

Maybe we should have elected Palin after all. She's so good at quitting!

Not really, there was a logical flaw in his presentation that:

1. the surge was justified on grounds of national security, but

2. national security wouldn't matter after the evacuation.

Either there's an issue of national security worth dying for or there's not - he can''t have it both ways I'm afraid.

km

Yeah, I want the smartest person in the room calling the shots and we certainly didn't have that for the previous eight years. But it's still depressing. We know Obama inherited a sh!t sandwich but I'm guessing we have no idea just how piled high it really was.

There's a PBS documentary on Herbert Hoover that ran a few weeks ago. I didn't realize how immensely popular he was when he was elected. Came from nothing, self-made millionaire by the age of forty, organized a relief effort that fed thousands of starving people during WWI. He really was the smartest guy in the room when he was elected and won by the biggest landslide ever. And lost by the biggest landslide ever. If the smartest people can't undo the mess we're in, where do we go from here?

... and the GOP will most likely obstruct and stall any appropriations to fund this new strategic effort because making sure Obama fails the cost will be their new primary concern. We'll see soon enough.

Thank you, Gary.

I've linked NIck Anderson lots, but this time I didn't go that extra tab back. Sigh. No, worser than sigh ~ Double Duh.

Thanks again.

There were Dems threatening the same thing yesterday.


Many Democrats are skittish about escalating the war - and how to pay for it

I'm not so sure. Hawkish Republicans are going to have a hard time denying funding lest they look soft on defense ... for example, I was listening to a Republican Senator on NPR this morning basically saying that ensuring the safety of our country and our children is of more concern than the budget ...

One discussion we're going to have to have in this country at some point is how much were willing to continue paying for our security. Is it really worth spending more money we don't have invading every possible location AQ might use as a base? That seems like a sure road to bankruptcy to me (to say nothing of the geopolitical / moral issues) ...

Are we willing to accept a bomb going off in a train station or something if it means recovering some of those unproductive resources and using them for domestic things instead?

Tough call ...

I know, that's why the GOP could easily succeed ... very few break ranks when their leadership calls for a party-line vote, particularly if they frame the appropriations debate as "a new tax".


Hawkish republicans have nothing to fear because the media will completely ignore their part in the vote and will focus on the failure of the Dem's leadership ... it will be Pelosi's fault.

The GOP — or at least McStain — are smiling on the buildup and frowning on a draw-down schedule. Freakin' dipsticks.

And speaking of dipsticks, would someone ask our resident solicitor or barrister or whatever why he continues to reply to someone who has blocked his posts? I know he's convinced himself that I still peak. But he would be very much mistaken. It just seems really really silly. Or enormously egocentric.

Having said that, he can bloody well reply 'til his fingernails crack, because I am in blissful ignore-ance.