COMMENTARY | All the major cable networks switched from their normally scheduled broadcasts Wednesday evening as President Barack Obama addressed the nation regarding his plans to draw down troop levels in Afghanistan. The press conference was planned, and most of the details regarding his speech were released to the press earlier in the day.
It seems like Obama is trying to please both sides on this one, and he is going to end up pleasing no one except the 2012 Republican presidential candidate. His platform of troop withdrawal was quickly trashed when he got the presidency in 2008, and he's forcing it on Congress now that his first term is almost up. The military wants to see this thing through, the Democrats wanted to leave a long time ago, and Obama wants to announce our plan to stay another year so the Taliban can take a short vacation, then schedule all their efforts for a full attack the day we exit.
Obama drastically lowered our goals, announcing "The goal that we seek is achievable, and can be expressed simply: no safe-haven from which al Qaeda or its affiliates can launch attacks against our homeland, or our allies." We are no longer aiming to eliminate the Taliban, the former Afghan government that provided safe haven to the same people who committed the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Allowing the new government to seek alliances with the Taliban is the same as handing all our work over to terrorists. The Taliban easily controlled Afghanistan before, and it will most definitely seek power after troops withdraw. The fact that the war has cost nearly a trillion dollars will simply mean that Obama flushed a trillion dollars when he gave the Taliban the country back.
I find it interesting that the government has used this press conference as a podium for the statement that it's time to stop rebuilding Afghanistan and start rebuilding America. This whole thing is just another passing of the buck on our economic woes and staggering national debt. The time for rebuilding America was four years ago when Obama first took office; it could have been started while forces occupy Afghanistan. I get the feeling that there are two speeches: one for the masses the administration perceives as idiots, and one for the legislature who they give slightly more credit to.
Obama is just hoping everything works itself out. I hope everything works itself out too, but I'm not nearly naive enough to believe it. I'm offended that this wasn't limited to a congressional hearing and Obama thought it was an opportunity to change the public's perception. Too bad hope doesn't grow on trees, and too bad bullets will still kill people in 2013.
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