It would have helped him immensely if he’d actually used the word “winning”—or any kindred words—somewhere, anywhere, in his speech. But he did not: “Successful conclusion” and “responsible transition” just do not hack it. One gets the sense that for this president, winning at something as unseemly as war is an aesthetic choke-in-the-throat. (That said, and to persevere with the diving metaphor, the speech was not a belly flop: It had that inevitable, clockwork, wind-up-and-whirr elegance that we’ve come to expect from Obama. There’s no question: He’s a theater jock.)…
What has struck me most about Obama’s Afghan enterprise—and his speech did not cause me to alter my view—is how obvious it is that he doesn’t really want to do it. He wants to do health care. Obama has tried every delaying trick in the book—waiting for three months after Gen. McChrystal’s request for more troops, having meeting after meeting after meeting, sending Gen. Jones to tell McChrystal not to ask for more troops, having his economic team say it will cost too much, framing the venture in terms of “exit strategies” rather than victory, etc. His ambivalence was on naked display tonight. Can you imagine Churchill delivering a speech like this, one so full of a sense of the limitation of national possibilities? No wonder Hillary—when the camera panned to her—looked like she needed a drink. No wonder the cadets all looked so depressed. Would you want Eeyore for commander in chief?
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