Pay attention, liberals:
President Barack Obama’s speech on Tuesday night deserves to be cheered. Over the objections of his vice president and despite opposition from his political base, the president is sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to fight terrorists.
This is the sort of thing you do when you’re a patriot – even if you oppose the man in office, you still try to pick out the parts you can support, especially as it relates to foreign and military affairs.
To be sure, Rove notes that Obama still isn’t giving as much as the military asked. Of course, the military brass could have sensed this sort of thing coming and asked for more than they needed, knowing that the request would be pared back. Bottom line, though, is that we patriots are pleased that President Obama is going to at least try to win.
It’d be better if Obama were to say the word “victory” as part of our goal, but we know we’ve got a liberal with zero military – or, indeed, real world – experience, and so we’ll take the baby steps, if that is the best we can get. It was also dismaying that President Obama laid out an 18 month time frame on this effort – better to have said nothing about it at all, if he was unwilling to use George Bush’s “when the generals request it” for withdrawal questions on Iraq.
This campaign can be won – and in my view, it must be won. We dare not leave Afghanistan with less than victory – if we don’t win, then we’ll pay the price for it in blood and treasure down the road. Interests, honor and basic, human decency require that we validate the sacrifices to date by ensuring a free, prosperous and united Afghanistan. And I hope you liberals with both join Karl Rove and learn a bit about what patriotism requires from him – and from the rest of us conservatives who simply will not attempt to take cheap, political shots at the President for temporary political gain.
UPDATE: With the continuing concern that Obama simply won’t stick it out.
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