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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 POLL NUMBERS 
33

Public Thinks Obama's Clueless on Afghanistan

Deeply divided country leaves president between rock, hard place

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(Newser) – When it comes to the Afghan war, Barack Obama is between a rock and a hard place politically. Only 45% of the public approves of his handling of it, down 10 percentage points from last month, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, and a whopping 63% don’t think he has a clear strategy. But voters are deeply divided over what Obama should do to right the ship.

Two-thirds of Republicans, whose support for Obama’s war effort has tumbled from 51% to 22%, favor deploying 40,000 more troops. But most Democrats say the war is “not worth fighting,” and 61% oppose the troop increase. Independents narrowly oppose the move. But few want to switch gears from protecting Afghanistan to fighting terrorists; four out of five said that even if the Taliban didn’t support terrorism, the US should work to keep it out of power.

US soldiers from the 5th Striker Brigade patrol on the outskirts of Spin Boldak, near the border with Pakistan, Aug. 9, 2009.
US soldiers from the 5th Striker Brigade patrol on the outskirts of Spin Boldak, near the border with Pakistan, Aug. 9, 2009.   (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
President Barack Obama takes a moment to talk about Afghanistan during his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, not shown, Oct. 20, 2009.
President Barack Obama takes a moment to talk about Afghanistan during his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, not shown, Oct. 20, 2009.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Army soldiers wait to board buses to deploy to Afghanistan at Fort Bragg, NC, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009.
Army soldiers wait to board buses to deploy to Afghanistan at Fort Bragg, NC, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009.   (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
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33 comments
VIEWING:
 
Doctor_Zaius
Oct 21, 09 8:29 AM CDT
Considering the country hasn't been sucessfully occupied since Alexander the Great I would say that nobody really knows how to handle it. Reply
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+12
IN RESPONSE:
Carpediem4U
Oct 21, 09 8:42 AM CDT
Agreed Dr. Zaius! Millions of arm chair generals and not a lickin sense with a view to the past. That place will always be what it has always been.
Vote up! Vote down!
+11
IN RESPONSE:
luvroks
Oct 21, 09 8:44 AM CDT
that is an excellent line Carpe..."will always be what it has always been"....totally awesome!
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+5
IN RESPONSE:
RogerMohajir
Oct 21, 09 8:58 AM CDT
The trick is to learn from the past, not bow to it. Also, while Afghanistan has never been occupied successfully, it has been manipulated successfully for the strategic purposes of others (many, many times). We should be looking to end our occupation, which would actually improve our ability to manipulate events there. Of course, that would only work if we involved people who know something about Afghanistan. As I understand it, knowing anything about Afghanistan (speaking Pushtu and/or Dari, having spent significant amounts of time there, etc.) constitutes a security risk in the eyes of the US government, so there's the Catch-22. Bottom line: the public's got this one right.
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+1
IN RESPONSE:
dontlikeyou
Oct 21, 09 9:16 AM CDT
Obama is wearing the coat liberals have always worn... weakness on the world stage. It did Jimmy Carter in and it will end Obama's reign in 2012.
Vote up! Vote down!
+3

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