Thursday, November 12, 2009

Andrew Sullivan Finally Has A President - Now What About The Rest Of Us?

I just read Andrew Sullivan's take how President Obama is handling his Afghanistan decision...

What we are seeing here, I suspect, is what we see everywhere with Obama: a
relentless empiricism in pursuit of a particular objective and a willingness to
let the process take its time. The very process itself can reveal - not just to
Obama, but to everyone - what exactly the precise options are. Instead of
engaging in adolescent tests of whether a president is "tough" or "weak", we
actually have an adult prepared to allow the various choices in front of us be
fully explored. He is, moreover, not taking the decision process outside the
public arena. He is allowing it to unfold within the public arena.

NOW he takes his time? We're to view his deer-in-headlights vaporlock on Afghanistan as wisdom and engaging the public? Damn shame this wasn't how he handled TARP... or the Stimuless... Or Healthcare Reform... With FOUR proposals available to him, he rejects each with no strategy of his own to put forth, and Sullivan seems to think he should be commended for his indecision?! Name ONE other time this President let any other "process take its time".

So the troop question is rather like the public option question.

Yeah. Exactly. Except the people without healthcare don't have BULLETS COMING AT THEM! Having a pre-existing condition doesn't make you more likely to be taken out by an IED!

Can you imagine Bush ever holding out like this on the military?

Not at all. But Sullivan thinks this is a PLUS, I take it? It's acceptable to screw our troops because Bush would not have screwed them? Is this the "change" Sullivan voted for? Sullivan's happy, he says we have a president. Sigh

George W. Bush had a LOT of faults... Leaving our troops in the lurch is not on the list.

Obama had better do SOMETHING. Pull 'em out, or give 'em what they need. Man up, Champ, your warriors are depending on you to do right. Andrew Sullivan might be impressed by your frozen indecision masquerading as thoughtful determination... The rest of us (and the troops in harm's way) are NOT. Everything else Obama has done since taking office has been an emergency! A crisis! A moral-for-GAWDS-sake imperative! But the troop decision can wait while it all gets sorted out in a public arena? Ludicrous.

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Thanks to CassyFiano.com for the link. Interesting thoughts there on "Indecision as Virtue". If you've found your way here through that site, please have a look at the rest of the blog. And thanks for coming!

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