Young, Inexperienced President to be Confronted by Foreign Policy Crisis: Demands by Angry Left He Abandon Afghanistan to Al Qaeda

The White House worries that the left will "pressure" them into a hasty withdrawal.

Ah, remember the days when that wasn't such an issue.

White House officials are increasingly worried liberal, anti-war Democrats will demand a premature end to the Afghanistan war before President Barack Obama can show signs of progress in the eight-year conflict, according to senior administration sources.

These fears, which the officials have discussed on the condition of anonymity over the past few weeks, are rising fast after U.S. casualties hit record levels in July and August.

The aides also expressed concern that Afghan election returns, still being tallied, will result in a narrow reelection for President Hamid Karzai that could result in qualms about his legitimacy — “Tehran II,” as one official put it, in reference to the disputed Iranian election.

The result: some think Afghanistan — not health care — will be the issue that defines the early years of the Obama administration.

“There’s no question that the drumbeat is going to get louder and louder on the left, and you’ll see some fall-off on the right,” said Matt Bennett of the think tank Third Way, the moderate voice of the progressive movement. “His supporters on the Hill are fighting a really serious political battle to keep the criticism under control.”

They seem unduly concerned about "criticism."

The Afghanistan conflict, which has gotten relatively little attention in part because Obama talks far more often about domestic concerns, is roaring back to the top of the Obama agenda as Congress is about to return from weeks of meetings with often unhappy voters.

And if we're successful in pushing back on ObamaCare and instead getting some kind of more reasonable, more limited small-beer reform instead, Obama -- the Great White Guilt Hope -- will of course feel the need to mollify the angry left by delivering Afghanistan to Al Qaeda.

Kinda Related: Pakistan lifts all restrictions on the travel and movement of the Islamic world's Johnny Appleseed of Nukes, AQ Khan.

posted by Ace at 11:51 AM

| Access Comments