Well, people here seem to think that Obama told us we'd be out of Afghanistan in 2011. That there was an exit strategy.
Not so fast.
Gates and Clinton are telling us something completely different.
Here's Gates
"We're not talking about an abrupt withdrawal. We're talking about something that will take place over a period of time," Gates told Meet the Press. "We will have 100,000 troops there. And they are not leaving in July of 2011. Some handful or some small number or whatever the conditions permit, will begin to withdraw at that time."
And here's Clinton:
"We're not talking about an exit strategy or a drop-dead deadline," she said. "You know, we're gonna be out of Iraq. We have a firm deadline, because the Iraqis believe that they can assume and will assume responsibility for their own future. We want the Afghans to feel the same sense of urgency. We want them to actually make good on what President Karzai said in his inaugural speech, which is that by five years from now they'll have total control for their defense."
Nice, Clinton. But we're talking about Afghanistan, not Iraq. Apparently you'd rather just change the subject.
Doesn't really matter, because here's Obama, telling us we could "take it to the bank" that we would be out of Iraq the day he's in office:
Apparently that was a lie, too.
Now here's the reality on the ground in Afghanistan:
How's that for the Afghan soldiers' "sense of urgency". The Taliban will fight us forever and ever. They have no sense of urgency and they don't have to have one. They live there and it costs them nothing to fight us.
Now is this NOT like Vietnam?
I'm getting pretty tired of having my chain yanked.
But I know a lot of you are extremely emotionally invested in Obama.
I suggest you take a step back, check your emotions at the door, and look at the walk, instead of the talk.
If this site is about "new and better Democrats" we really need to start talking about who we can primary in 2012.
I don't want 7 more years of Bush Lite.