Friday, December 4, 2009

Obama Satisfies Nobody

It’s amazing how many politicians, when they become president, are no longer slaves to ideology. When “The Buck Stops Here” you become a realist very quickly. You realize that left-wing ideals are unworkable and utopian. You realize that right wing ideology doesn’t work either. So a president moves towards the middle and makes decisions less on ideological grounds, and more on what he thinks will work.

The Left is furious with Obama, one of theirs, for prolonging the war in Afghanistan. Yet we can’t just walk out, leaving that country in chaos and ripe for the Taliban. If we just packed up and left, the Taliban would take over in months and Al-Qaeda would have a safe haven from which to launch further attacks on the West. Does the Left really want that?

The Right is furious with Obama, mainly because they don’t like him, but also feel he should be more aggressive in Afghanistan. What really annoys me is that Dick Cheney is taking pot shots at Obama’s policies regarding the war. Yet who got us into this mess to begin with? It was mainly Cheney if the anecdotal evidence is to be believed. Why doesn’t he just fade away as Bush did?

The U.S. has a moral obligation to finish what it started. The moral obligation is to:

(1) Those who gave their lives in this conflict.

(2) The American people, whose safety and security would be compromised if we gave up.

(3) The Afghan people, especially the women, who would suffer terribly if the Taliban were to once again rule that country.

We as Americans must pray for our leaders, that they be given wisdom to make the right decisions. Pray also for victory over the Taliban and for a stronger and more effective Afghan government. The sooner we can get out of there, the better.

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