Obama's brave decision on Afghanistan

I found these words profoundly reassuring and much more important than any of Obama’s more obviously successful and stylish speeches. For these words, and the decision to send the troops to Afghanistan, demonstrate that Obama is fully a national security president, that he understands fully America’s unique security role and is wholly proud of the US record (while of course acknowledging mistakes)…

Obama points out that the troops couldn’t have left any earlier, presumably because of seasonal conditions in Afghanistan. But the length of the review unintentionally sent a message of weakness of resolve.

The international community ought to cut Obama some slack here. This is a pretty brave decision. Obama is doing what all the pundits (myself included) have said he never does — he’s defying his base, he’s taking a tough decision, he’s taking a probably unpopular decision, he’s risking the lives of thousands of young Americans and he’s probably risking his presidency. I don’t know about you, but for me that pretty much establishes the authenticity, the substance and the grit in this decision. As is almost always the case, it is overwhelmingly in the interests of global peace and security for him to succeed.