Better Watch It Now, Al Queda!

As difficult as it was, I watched Barry's speech tonight wherein he laid out his plan for the war in Afghanistan. Most of it could have been lifted from anything Bush said supporting his efforts there and in Iraq. "We must deny al-Qaida a safe haven," Obama said "We must reverse the Taliban's momentum. ... And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and government." Wow. Original thoughts there. Of course, he's not adding the amount of troops requested by McChrystal, and he is putting down a timeline, which Bush would never do. What I can't figure out is exactly what he could have been pondering to only come out finally saying he's gonna do what was asked for the whole time. If that ain't "dithering", I don't know what is. I just heard nothing that impressed me as original or revelatory about his plan or Barry as a commander-in-chief.

More worrying is that he didn't speak with any passion like someone convinced of victory or even convinced that we're capable of victory. But then, we know he has a problem with the concept of victory. As Krauthammer said, he's no Churchill. Not even close. The cadets looked like they were falling asleep.

Perhaps Barry's hoping that enough Dems are stupid enough to block funding for this effort. That would allow him to wash his hands of the Taliban take-over that will occur if our troops are pulled too soon or left as they are, in need of that 40,000 troop surge. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., as well as other liberal House Democrats threatened to try to block such funding. Carl Levin, the Michigan Dem, spoke of tax hikes on the rich (you know, the people with the endless supply of money) or gasoline taxes which'll screw the rest of us.

An AP article said this: "Obama's address represents the beginning of a sales job to restore support for the war effort among an American public grown increasingly pessimistic about success..." If there's any pessimism, it has been cultivated by the Dems who have gone out of their way to inhibit our ability to win. Pessimism vanishes in the face of victory. As we record successes and then report on those successes to the American public, it is optimism that will arise. And if we have a president who exudes the attitude of a winner, of a victorious military leader, then, as in WWII, the people will rally in support of their fellow Americans who are doing the real heavy lifting, and throw their support behind them in many ways.

Barry said this won't be easy. Hmmm. Where have I heard THAT before? Ah, yes! It was George W. Bush from the very beginning all througout the war! Barry said we were once unified. Bullhockey. The two parties were never unified behind Bush as he sought to do what Barry thinks he's gonna do with his half-assed attitude. And it seems that's still the case when considering the above paragraph. The stakes in this contest are still what they were since 9/11. Barry has two advantages now. 1) His opponents favor victory where Bush's didn't. 2) He has only Afghanistan to worry about, not there AND Iraq. But still, my advice to him would be this: stand back, let the generals in charge run the show while Barry says what they tell him to say. If victory doesn't seem any closer in six months, get new generals. Since he fancies himself a modern day Lincoln, he could act like him here.

God bless and protect our troops. They'll need all the help they can get.