Obama at West Point
Posted in Foreign Affairs by Peter W. Schramm
All of us, not just me, will have much to say about both Obama's new Afghan/Pakistan policy, as well as the speech of last night. But not everything should be said at once, even if I knew what to say. First, I felt a bit sorry for him. He was ill at ease among the long line of gray. The line was only partially enthusiastic. Second, the lefty pundits (on MSNBC) were also not enthusiastic with the talk, and they were too vocal about it.
Mac Owens was not impressed with the talk and he has some unsurprising quick opinions.
I actually think that the situation we should call Pakistan/Afghanistan is so perilous that no "policy" or "strategy" will hold for long. Certainly the so called exit strategy is meaningless on the ground; it's a political statement. In preparing to learn to eat soup with a knife, we have to be very nimble, be ready to turn on a dime at any time; all this can only be done if each part of the whole--including the commander in chief--trusts the others. His speech did not help establish that trust. We also have to have a better idea of what "victory" actually means or may end up meaning.
5:23 PM / December 2, 2009
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https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,664753,00.html
Didn't get to see the speech, but Drudge had the above link. Not surpring at all.