A New Afghanistan Attitude

As we prepare to hear the President’s speech on Afghanistan tomorrow night, we should adopt a new attitude towards the war and try to separate his recommendations from the follies of the last eight years.

During the Bush administration, we were beset by false assurances, cherry picking of intelligence and a general attitude of deception. We should give the new President an opportunity to define a new, more nuanced strategy, and wait patiently for it to work, or possibly, fail.

We should acknowledge that the President has undergone a far more deliberative process than we ever saw during the Bush administration and give him credit for going through the effort, despite Republican efforts to short circuit him and test his patience.

Of course, some details of the speech have already been leaked such as the size of the new force and the need to create benchmarks for the Afghan government to meet. But I would look more closely at how the President ties these items together into a cohesive whole. Does it make sense as an overarching philosophy? Are there sufficient safeguards in case things don’t go as anticipated. Is there a plan B?

I’m looking forward to hearing the results of President Obama’s deliberative process and hope he hits the ball out of the park, for the good of the country and the American soldiers sacrificing so much on behalf of it.

Democrats Deserve Victory

The Democratic Party deserves a pat on the back after its squeaker win on Saturday night in the U.S. Senate. Passing a large complicated bill is even more difficult these days than when Medicare and Social Security were enacted because our company has become more partisan and splintered into a collection of one-issue interest groups.

The power of these interest groups was clearly illustrated during the House debate when the Stupak amendment was needed to put the Democrats over the top. This amendment mandated more restrictive pro-life language on abortion than is usually the case.

Anyway, it’s somewhat of a miracle that Majority Leader Harry Reid was able to hold the fractious party together, if only for one vote. The Democrats are all, at least, willing to debate the legislation as opposed to the Republicans who will have none of it.

The old saying, “I don’t belong to any organized Party, I’m a Democrat,” still holds true today and augurs potential disaster down the line without continued compromise and horse trading. At the very least, I do not see how Senators Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln will ever vote for any bill containing a public option, though I think the other centrists can be persuaded, specifically Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson.

One possible solution would be to change the public option from an opt-out situation to an opt-in situation. This, perhaps, would satisfy the liberals and moderates alike, though there still may be some grumbling on the more liberal House side.

Palin Palooza

Sarah Palin’s book tour would be laughable if its premise were not so possible.

That premise, the possibility of electing Sarah Palin to the highest office in the land, would be an anti-intellectual reaction to the Obama administration. It is troubling to think the American people would fall for the same Joe Sixpack theory prevalent in the Bush administration.

Haven’t we learned the potential catastrophes possible with an incapable leader at the helm? The way George W. Bush mangles the English language, a capability shared by Sarah Palin, is the least of the problem. Think about what President Bush accomplished in eight short years: Hurricane Katrina, two foreign wars, a global economic collapse and more.

Yet Ms. Palin pushes blithely ahead, staying in the public spotlight, yet making no effort to learn about current issues, a lack of intellectual curiosity. She may be a nice person, someone you’d like to have at a barbecue, but that shouldn’t be the main criteria for the highest office in the land.

Many question whether the Katie Couric interview was an attempt to trap Sarah Palin or whether she exposed her real character and qualifications. Well, I suspect we will be able to come to some conclusion about that in the coming weeks.