OBAMA'S HOUSE

When Obama moved into his new house, he had to take it "as is." The prior occupant had left dried vomit in every room, and in several rooms the walls were stained with blood. Obama was faced with a laborious cleanup. The puke was a major problem, but the blood-stained walls--in rooms already suffering from dry rot--have been far worse. Obama had a choice. He could spend several years scrubbing down the rotten and stained walls, or he could paint the rooms, close them off and get on with things. Obama has chosen to scrub the walls.

So much for the extended metaphor.

I think that Obama, someone I root for, has made a mistake in not leaving Afghanistan immediately. He could have said that in our current situation, we need every penny to help get our economy moving and so he intends to adjust the national budget. We cannot afford a war. I believe he could have sold that concept.

There is one positive aspect to all this. The conversation about Iraq and Afghanistan has changed markedly under Obama. The United States has a long history of invading countries and building permanent bases and staying. Our military are still in Germany, Japan, Korea, etc. Bush planned to stay in Iraq. Today the arguments about Iraq and Afghanistan are about how soon we can leave, immediately or in two years. Obama has not commited to nation building or democracy building in Afghanistan. He's set a low bar: control of some major areas and then a turnover to the locals in 18 months.

Speaking as a former enlisted man, I would not want to be the last American killed in Afghanistan. Propping up Afghanistan in order to prop up the nuclear-armed Pakistan strikes me as too indirect to be good strategy. But at least we and the people of Afghanistan have a time line, and it is significant to note that the American military now support eventual withdrawal, in part because our military needs to be rebuilt.