Let Me Get This Straight...

Obama informs top diplomatic, military officials of Afghan decision

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama has informed several top diplomatic and military officials about his decision regarding new U.S. strategy and troop levels in Afghanistan, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday.

Obama called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday to tell her about his decision, Gibbs said. The president later met in the Oval Office with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, top U.S. Middle East military commander Gen. David Petraeus and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, among others.

Hmmm. McChrystal took over at the beginning of the summer with ruminations of needing additional troops. He gave his recommendation at the end of August. It's refreshing to see that 0bama took this request serious enough to study it for three months rather than either rejecting it out of hand or rubber-stamping it. Much hay is being made of 0bama committing only 75% of the troops requested; however it overlooks the 13,000 troops sent in October. 30K + 13K = 43K, or very near the upper limit of what McChrystal requested initially.

One hopes that the President did not sit on the request for political reasons; that it was studied response to a serious and pressing matter. One hopes that there were no polls; no focus groups; no "will of the people" moments involved in this decision - given how beholden 0bama is to the many anti-war-at-all-costs groups, this is not inconsequential. Taking nearly four months to arrive at the same conclusion as the guy you put in charge does tend to make one wonder, though.

Or maybe 0bama was just too busy playing golf...

That is all.