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Obama Needs to Decide if He's in It to Win It

Hasn't proved he's truly committed to the fight

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 30, 2009 8:20 AM CDT

(Newser) – These White House strategy sessions on Afghanistan are all well and good and full of questions, writes David Brooks, but they sidestep the big one: Is he committed to the effort? We know President Obama is a smart guy. What we don't know is whether he has the "tenacity" and single-minded focus to be a good war president. Obama's "most important meeting" isn't the one today with the joint chiefs. "It’s the one with the mirror."

He must look within for "some firm conviction about whether Afghanistan is worthy of his full and unshakable commitment," writes Brooks in the New York Times. "If the president cannot find that core conviction, we should get out now." Brooks cites a nagging sense among military experts that Obama's "gut" just isn't in this fight. "Some of the experts asked what I thought of Obama’s commitment level. I had to confess I’m not sure either." It's time for Obama to let us know.

[Images (2)]

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President Obama speaks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Obama, followed by Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, walks into the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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Every argument about troop levels is really a proxy argument for whether the US should stay or go. The administration is so divided because the fundamental issue of commitment has not been settled. - David Brooks

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 17 comments

So_Cal_Larry

Oct 31, 2009 8:03 AM CDT

David Brooks is one of the elite beltway pundits who are almost universally conservative republican shills for the warmongers and generals of the nation. This commentary was filled with quotes from 'anonymous' 'experts' on the matter of meeting the immediate requirements of the generals or else. What utter garbage. The politics of war is much too important to be left to the generals. These self-important beltway bloviators are quickly becoming more and more marginalized - and rightly so.

NxBigmouthery

Oct 30, 2009 8:40 AM CDT

Very good point. Most are aware of what happened leading up to both Afghanistan and Iraq. People don't need leaders to tell them what just happened. Whatever the decision, it needs to be a committed one...made soon. I do applaud President Obama for his consideration in the matter, but the time is over for weighing up the total costs of a protracted stay in the region versus withdrawal. Someone here suggested that the announcement may be timed to coincide with the run-in to the gubernatorial elections. While I sincerely hope this is not so, it is not beyond those on both sides to try to make political capital out of major issues. It also speaks to a numbed electorate that a government could even consider doing that and expect to get away with it. My own view on the situation is pretty clear: now that Karzai has been exposed as a fraud with a leadership style as potentially oppressive as the enemy's, there's nothing to be gained by staying except more pain and suffering. Get out.

freethemall

Oct 30, 2009 8:21 AM CDT

Your explanation of the "present" vote in the Illinois legislature is right on the mark, Doctor_Zaius! The common person might be forgiven for not understanding this, but the lying politicians who have used this against Obama cannot be.

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Obama Needs to Decide if He's in It to Win It