"Perhaps Dec. 1, 2009, will become known as the night the Obama honeymoon ended decisively -- largely because a great communicator placed too much faith in his own powers of persuasion and his celebrated mastery of a medium." Wash Post TV critic Tom Shales
"Obama may be the one president of the television age who can make a star turn at West Point look like a graduate seminar at Yale." NYT TV critic Alessandra Stanley
"Gunga Dan" Rather:
"I do think it’s possible to accomplish our minimal goals there, but there’s no quick fix and no short fix. It took the U.S. 35 years in the Philippines, 45 years in South Korea. What we’ve laid out for ourselves is something long term. My gentle and humble voice is that we have to understand there’s no short-range solution to this."
Above photo right, Hillary and Sec Def Bob Gates. Hillary seems to be saying
"this guy is hopelessly naive." Okay, I said it. Obama is hopelessly naive. It's not that I'm anti-war. Eighteen months to get out? Is Obama on something? This war will never be
"won" on Obama's watch... Or anybody's, for that matter.
Marty, you are a very smart lady, but with respect, I think you're very wrong on Afghanistan. The war is winnable; the question is the appropriate strategy to achieve...what's that word that Barry can't bring himself to use?...oh yes...victory.
ReplyDeletePlease take the time to read this paper on the importance of the tribal dynamic in AF:
http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/wp-content/themes/stevenpressfield/one_tribe_at_a_time_ed2.pdf
Then read this extended correspondnece on the isue between an Army officer and the paper's author, Maj. Gant:
http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/category/one-tribe-at-a-time/
See also Steven Pressfield's 5-part short video series on the tribal dynamic:
http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/vblog/
At the very least, after finishing these you'll have a clearer sense of what needs to be done then the prez will ever have...
See also Hanson's take on Barry's befuddled effort:
ReplyDeletehttp://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWM5YTUyMmUzZjVhY2UzNWRhYWExNzBlMGY2MjBjOGY=