Borger: Obama's is only vote on Afghan war
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/30/art.afghanistan.gi-1.jpg caption="Gloria Borger says President Obama faces a political problem of his own making on Afghanistan."]
(CNN) - Sometimes, even in Washington, there's no way around a central truth: that in governing, there are moments when real, tough decisions must be made. No waffling. None of the usual "on the one hand, on the other hand." No hiding behind the votes cast by others.
There is one vote, and it belongs to the president.
It was that way with George W. Bush in December 2006, when, after conferring for three months with his generals and his Cabinet - not to mention the advice offered by the pooh-bahs in the Iraq Study Group - he decided on a surge strategy in Iraq. It was not a plan highly touted by many of his advisers, but by January, Bush told the nation "America will change our strategy ... [and] this will require increasing American force levels."
As it turns out, the surge worked.
From CNN Politics
- Here are the executive actions Biden has signed so far
- Here's what you can expect to get from the $1.9 trillion House stimulus February 26, 2021 04:04 pm
- DHS mandates state and local spending on domestic terrorism prevention February 26, 2021 03:56 pm
- House vote key first step for Democrats' stimulus plans February 26, 2021 03:30 pm
- Covid-19 cases discovered on one US Navy ship in Middle East, suspected cases on a second February 26, 2021 03:19 pm
- Murkowski to meet with Tanden on Monday as confirmation remains on the rocks February 26, 2021 02:59 pm
"Present" will not cut it. Obama needs to start making the tough decisions, lives are on the line. The buck stops with him.
And we are all wondering what the man without a spine, moral conscience will do. Would it involve supporting our troops in anything but a campaign speech?
That means Obama can't vote present.
The difference is, Obama will throw in something about inheriting the situation, and will also make sure that he says he has relied on the advice of others.
Bush, on the other hand, showed leadership by stating it was his decision.
The cat has no clue and talk is cheap on the campaign tour, now he's stumbling and bumbling and looking like a fool.
Since Bush's plan, or lack thereof, had so many holes in it, you couldn't fix it with duct tape. I am confident that Obama will make the correct choice.
I trust President obama on his decisions.
America is like a big, dumb puppy. I think Johnny Depp said that, and though I hate it when celebrities make such comments from their private islands, I'd have to agree with that one.
You know if back in 2001-2002 we committed enough resources to Afghanistan we could have completely eliminated the Taliban by now. What did Bush Jr. do instead? He withdrew most of the troops and wasted them in Iraq instead. This gave the Taliban and Al Quaida a very comfortable 7 years to easily relocate to Pakistan, rebuild, and strengthen. Thank you Bush! You really won this for us...
That's right. Sometimes tough decisions must be made. SO MAKE ONE ALREADY!
Extremely hard to win the war in Afganistan.. Bush had his chance, and is not coming back..
Declare victory and get back over here..
Yes, and the President likes to have all the information before he makes a decision. He's already waffling on it, weighing the pro's and con's. You know this. So why bother to bring it up? We all know that its his decision, so what. He'll make a choice when he makes a choice, and not when you want him to.
Interesting that this story points out that Bushie took 3 months to make a decision about the surge in Iraq and yet the neo-con-nit-wits are all yammering for President Obama to make a decision about Afghanistan yesterday!
When he FINALLY speaks to this issue, I will break my own resolution to avoid looking at him, and watch his speech with anticipation ( and a
knot in my stomach) I am desperately seeking one good thing from this egotistical President (yes he is my President, but I can't help it).
If he leads on this in a way that ensures America's victory... then I will
applaud to my television set ( as a way of apologizing to it for all the times I have been cursing it lately).
The taliban oppresses women, gays and non-muslims. They produce half of the world's illegal opium supply. They support Al Queada. They also undermine what little stability Pakistan has. We need to win in Afghanistan and President Obama needs to support this effort or resign.
Please note in the accompanying photo, Obama is not one of the persons standing on the equipment. Obama considers the lives of military people to be just his equipment.
Borger, you have NO CLUE!
We're praying for you President Obama.
Obama needs to dangle your kids in front of the Taliban just a little while longer – just long enough to finish tricking the gullible into voting for the health care "reform" scam. He knew you'd understand.
Either way, Obama loses on this one. Welcome to the tough job of being President.
I agree that Pres. Obama needs to make a decision and not put it on the shoulders of congress. They're not fit to make these kinds of decisions anyway.
Rush Limbaugh is an Anti-Obama and Anti-Democrats Propagandist.
Wrong, Illogical and Imprudent Propaganda can be very harmful for the Person who spreads Propaganda, than any Advantage or Benefit.
Whatever Rush Speaks is Absolutely Insane and Lunatic. His criticism of Obama is like “Kindergarten Name-Calling”.
Rush Limbaugh is an Illiterate and an Uneducated person. GOP is using him as their Spokes Person.
There is an old saying, “A Foolish and Idiot Friend is more Dangerous than an Intelligent Enemy”.
GOP does not realize, the more Rush Limbaugh speaks, the more People Hate GOP.
It is like, Rush is destroying GOP. Good Luck Rush and Good Luck GOP. 😛
If Obama chooses to listen to Nancy Pelosi and NOT defend our country and SURRENDERS to our enemies, HE should really consider gettind a DIFFERENT JOB !!!!
Let's not pick on Obama too much. It's hard to actually make a yes or no decision without saying yes or no. Maybe he should appoint a decision czar.
The man without a brain is no longer making decisions, as he has retired to Dallas.