America's Concern Troll

It's amazing that Richard Cohen has the (very very very small) balls to call out Obama as vacillating on Afghanistan:

October 6, 2009, give as many troops as we can!

But the ultimate in realism is for the president to gauge himself and who he is: Does he have the stomach and commitment for what is likely to continue to be an unpopular war? Will he send additional troops, but hedge by not sending enough -- so that the dying will be in vain? What does he believe, and will he ask Americans to die for it?

October 29, 2009, give him some but not what he wants:

This is why McChrystal's request for 40,000 or so additional troops for Afghanistan ought not to be taken as some sort of holy writ. These requests are a starting point, a place to begin the debate. Those whose battle cry is "Give the generals what they need" are actually saying "Give the generals what they want" -- which is not responsible policymaking. President Obama's protracted review of all the options is precisely the right approach. We have gone to war in a hurry once too often of late.

Today, don't send any troops at all:

Leave Afghanistan to the drones and the Special Forces. It's no way to win, but it's a good way not to lose.