The president has a HUGE problem on his hands and it is unlikely based on his amateurish leadership so far that he will handle this very well. In fact, he has managed to paint himself into a political corner that will prove to be difficult if not impossible to extricate himself.<\/p>\n
The White House has apparently been sitting on a rather significant request for a troop increase from General Stanley McChrystal for over three weeks.<\/p>\n
And General McChrystal\u2019s analysis <\/a>certainly appears to request urgent action or face failure.<\/p>\n The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict “will likely result in failure,” according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post. <\/p>\n Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.” <\/p>\n His assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Aug. 30 and is now being reviewed by President Obama and his national security team.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is not good for Obama. He hand picked McChrystal and now he is realizing that though Stan McChrystal is among the best Generals we have, he doesn\u2019t have a magic wand.<\/p>\n Obama is trying to vote \u201cPresent\u201d again but while that is a valid tactic in Illinois politics it doesn\u2019t work very well at all when making decisions about war.<\/p>\n Hard decisions are not a strong suit for the young president who can\u2019t point to a single day of executive experience prior to the White House or a particularly difficult decision that he alone would be held responsible for. Now he is at a politcal tipping point and this hazard is 100% of his own doing.<\/p>\n His biggest problem is not Afghanistan. The 2-ton elephant in the room is the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). This is the far left loons who support anything ACORN does and opposes any war for any reason. I like to refer to them as the \u201cAll Whores-No Wars\u201d coalition. <\/p>\n Healthcare reform is dead if he doesn\u2019t include the public option to this group of Socialists and dead if he does to the blue dogs particularly in the Senate.<\/p>\n Dramatically increasing troop levels in Afghanistan will singe the collective panties of the \u201cAll Whores-No Wars\u201d coalition and Obama knows that if nothing else, they are a very vindictive group. They have the power and will use it to destroy his entire domestic agenda.<\/p>\n Philosophically Obama is a far left Socialists and that is how he got where he is so this group holds more sway over him than most sane presidents. The anti-war leftists in both houses are starting the raise their heads and Obama has to be hearing their cries.<\/p>\n