Tuesday, March 04, 2008
The Change we Heed
Here's an example of why a race between McCain and Obama is going to be very, very interesting. This is from Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard:
Democrats have spent the last year loudly insisting that Afghanistan is the "real" war on terror. But when it comes to making meaningful recommendations for what actually needs to be done to reverse the situation in Afghanistan and defeat the Taliban, they have been notably vague and lethargic. Barack Obama--despite being the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee responsible for overseeing NATO’s military operations in Afghanistan--hasn’t bothered to hold a single hearing on the Atlantic Alliance’s flagging mission there. In fact, the putative Democratic commander-in-chief has never even taken the time to visit Afghanistan and talk to our commanders on the ground there (nor did he take the time to talk to the Captain whose stories of shortages in that theater he so badly mangled).
The explanation for this behavior, of course, is that the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Congress couldn’t care less about the hard realities we face in Afghanistan or how to turn them around. Rather, they see Afghanistan as a political tool to justify retreat and defeat in Iraq. It’s the kind of cynical manipulation of national security that has increasingly become the norm among the politicos of the left.
By contrast, Joe Lieberman today has an op-ed in the Washington Post that offers a sober and serious policy proposal for reversing Afghanistan’s slide: expand the Afghan National Army. Here’s hoping that the administration--and Republicans, more broadly--listen to him and reclaim this issue from the Democrats.
Democrats have spent the last year loudly insisting that Afghanistan is the "real" war on terror. But when it comes to making meaningful recommendations for what actually needs to be done to reverse the situation in Afghanistan and defeat the Taliban, they have been notably vague and lethargic. Barack Obama--despite being the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee responsible for overseeing NATO’s military operations in Afghanistan--hasn’t bothered to hold a single hearing on the Atlantic Alliance’s flagging mission there. In fact, the putative Democratic commander-in-chief has never even taken the time to visit Afghanistan and talk to our commanders on the ground there (nor did he take the time to talk to the Captain whose stories of shortages in that theater he so badly mangled).
The explanation for this behavior, of course, is that the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Congress couldn’t care less about the hard realities we face in Afghanistan or how to turn them around. Rather, they see Afghanistan as a political tool to justify retreat and defeat in Iraq. It’s the kind of cynical manipulation of national security that has increasingly become the norm among the politicos of the left.
By contrast, Joe Lieberman today has an op-ed in the Washington Post that offers a sober and serious policy proposal for reversing Afghanistan’s slide: expand the Afghan National Army. Here’s hoping that the administration--and Republicans, more broadly--listen to him and reclaim this issue from the Democrats.
Labels: 2008 Election, Terrorism
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