Obama misses chance

to be brave, wise on

withdrawal of troops

President Obama speaks in the Rose Garden about Afghanistan on Tuesday.

President Obama missed an opportunity to demonstrate both courage and wisdom on Afghanistan on Tuesday.
“This is the year we will conclude our combat mission in Afghanistan,” he said.
One could almost hear an echo from the 1970s when Richard Nixon was talking about the US exit from Vietnam: “peace with honor.”
But, if combat is over, why are all the troops not coming home immediately?
The US has done everything it could to bring peace and stability to a region that has known little of either for a millennium.
How do you tell the last soldier killed in Afghanistan that he died for a mistake?

MAJOR SURVEY FINDS FIRST MAJORITY FOR THIS VIEW
A little noticed but hugely important public opinion survey released this week shows that Americans see their country’s influence in the world diminishing – confirming what has become obvious to many abroad.
Public opinion is bound to have an impact on a broad range of issues and how they are resolved. Isolationism, however, is hardly a good option.
Events abroad have and will continue to have a huge impact domestically, but it seems as if few are willing to acknowledge this. We do so at our peril.

OBAMA INHERITS DEBRIS LEFT BY BUSH WARS AND SCANDALS
President Obama has a huge foreign policy problem.
At home and abroad, he is facing stiff headwinds. But they are not of his own making.
After the disastrous Bush/Cheney foreign policy, it is no wonder Americans are tired of foreign misadventures and wary of any involvement in what seem to be intractable problems engulfing the Middle East.
The president will have to use all of the power and prestige of his office over the coming months to bring the American people on board with his program of constructive, diplomatic intervention.