fenix9885
03-19-2011, 07:23 PM
Haley Barbour is the latest Republican to question whether we should be over there. Every other Republican candidate has publicly said that we should probably get out soon. So that leaves Obama as being the only candidate to support our troops in Afghanistan. I know how everybody on here feels about Obama, but how does this make you feel? That every single Republican is itching for us to get out of Dodge ASAP?
From the story:
WASHINGTON -- Recent skepticism from several potential Republican presidential candidates over the state of affairs in Afghanistan has raised what is, for some progressives, an uncomfortable and alarming question: whether President Barack Obama could be the only one on the 2012 presidential ballot still supporting the war.
That began to seem more distinctly possible this past week, after Mississippi Gov. and likely GOP presidential hopeful Haley Barbour told a crowd in Iowa that he questioned the efficacy of a large U.S. military presence being camped in Afghanistan. Last month, another possible Republican contender, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, told a group of reporters that the Afghan government was not only disturbingly corrupt, but that the country itself looked “like the surface of the moon.”
Two GOP pols do not a trend make, especially with Huckabee appearing to fade from the race at this early stage. But the prominence of Barbour and Huckabee within their own party, combined with the growing unpopularity of the war in public opinion polls, has Democrats fretting that on 2012's likely predominant foreign policy issue, Obama will be outflanked and isolated.
“I think it is a real danger for them,” said one leading Democratic consultant, who requested anonymity because he frequently works with the Obama White House. “I think they are aware of it. They intend to reduce troops, but it has to be visible and real. The country has decided it is time to go.”
Obama and his advisers are aware of the political difficulties the issue poses for them. While several recent high-profile speeches from administration and Pentagon officials have left the impression that the president is flexible about a July start date for withdrawal from Afghanistan, top aides continue to insist that Obama won't deviate from the plan.
“[W]e understand the environment,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said during a press briefing Wednesday. “We understand how long this war has gone on. We understand, as the president said, that this war was neglected for a number of years in the middle of the last decade ... This was all part of the president’s review that led him to the policy decision he made."
But for many, that policy decision simply isn’t good enough. Under the current plan, U.S. troops won't hand off control of security operations to Afghan forces until the end of 2014, and in the interim, Obama's support is bleeding in the polls among the growing swath of Americans, including Republicans, wary of continued foreign entanglements.
From the story:
WASHINGTON -- Recent skepticism from several potential Republican presidential candidates over the state of affairs in Afghanistan has raised what is, for some progressives, an uncomfortable and alarming question: whether President Barack Obama could be the only one on the 2012 presidential ballot still supporting the war.
That began to seem more distinctly possible this past week, after Mississippi Gov. and likely GOP presidential hopeful Haley Barbour told a crowd in Iowa that he questioned the efficacy of a large U.S. military presence being camped in Afghanistan. Last month, another possible Republican contender, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, told a group of reporters that the Afghan government was not only disturbingly corrupt, but that the country itself looked “like the surface of the moon.”
Two GOP pols do not a trend make, especially with Huckabee appearing to fade from the race at this early stage. But the prominence of Barbour and Huckabee within their own party, combined with the growing unpopularity of the war in public opinion polls, has Democrats fretting that on 2012's likely predominant foreign policy issue, Obama will be outflanked and isolated.
“I think it is a real danger for them,” said one leading Democratic consultant, who requested anonymity because he frequently works with the Obama White House. “I think they are aware of it. They intend to reduce troops, but it has to be visible and real. The country has decided it is time to go.”
Obama and his advisers are aware of the political difficulties the issue poses for them. While several recent high-profile speeches from administration and Pentagon officials have left the impression that the president is flexible about a July start date for withdrawal from Afghanistan, top aides continue to insist that Obama won't deviate from the plan.
“[W]e understand the environment,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said during a press briefing Wednesday. “We understand how long this war has gone on. We understand, as the president said, that this war was neglected for a number of years in the middle of the last decade ... This was all part of the president’s review that led him to the policy decision he made."
But for many, that policy decision simply isn’t good enough. Under the current plan, U.S. troops won't hand off control of security operations to Afghan forces until the end of 2014, and in the interim, Obama's support is bleeding in the polls among the growing swath of Americans, including Republicans, wary of continued foreign entanglements.