Clearly, the Obami are tied up in knots over Afghanistan. They decided to implement a counterinsurgency plan and now are undecided, or re-deciding. Domestic-policy advisers have apparently convinced Obama that he is at risk with his base and with the country at large if he follows the advice of his highly respected general, Stanley McChrystal. And that’s where it gets a little murky.

Karl Rove points out that even if you place the decision in the context of domestic politics, it makes little sense for the president to flinch. He explains that Obama shouldn’t be afraid of losing the Left:

That fear is both dangerous and unnecessary. The president can retain liberal support for liberal domestic initiatives regardless of the war. And he can sustain support for the war by assembling a coalition of Democrats who want to win in Afghanistan, Democrats who would reluctantly follow their president — and almost every Republican.

Really, is Carl Levin going to vote “no” on ObamaCare because the president followed McChrystal’s recommendation? Will Nancy Pelosi and her minions whip a vote against their party’s leader and commander in chief? It doesn’t make much sense.

Now perhaps Obama just doesn’t like crossing his base or suffering a loss of confidence when the netroots fret. But he is the president, not the Democratic nominee, and one would think it’s time to move beyond such parochial concerns. Moreover, as Rove notes, there is something more important here than internal Democratic politics. We do, after all, have a war to win.

While Obama is concerned about becoming an unpopular wartime president (George W. Bush redux), he would do well to recall that Bush’s party suffered at the polls in 2006 when the war strategy had not yet been revised. And Obama would also be wise to think about another president whom the American people came to see as irresolute, naive, and unable to stand up to America’s foes. That president, Jimmy Carter, got only one term. The American people sized him up, didn’t like what they saw, and voted for a figure committed to asserting American power and values in a dangerous world. Now, that’s something for Obama to worry about.

del.icio.us

Google

Facebook

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 8:31 AM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.