The Hill: Liberals ready to strike out at White House over Afghanistan surge

Liberals ready to strike out at White House over Afghanistan surge
By Jared Allen - 09/05/09 09:02 AM ET

Liberals in Congress, already angry about healthcare reform, are sharpening their swords for a fight with the administration over Afghanistan.

They have opened one front with the White House on a public option for healthcare but are ready to open a second front on Afghanistan, even if it damages a president whose success is dependent on a strong record of accomplishment.

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“Just because President Obama is our president doesn’t mean we don’t feel the same outrage we felt regarding Iraq in this same time in the Iraq occupation,” Woolsey said. “Our president doesn’t get a pass on this.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who voted against the last Afghanistan supplemental spending bill requested by Obama, said he’s been hearing not just from liberal Democrats but from conservative Republicans as well, who he said are deeply concerned about the direction of the U.S. campaign to root out al-Qaeda.

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“A lot of us didn’t vote for the last supplemental,” Woolsey said. “But we hadn’t organized, and we will be doing that.”

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“One of the things we’ve never had on Afghanistan is a full debate,” McGovern said. “And I think there needs to be a full debate, a full discussion. We all need to know what we’re doing and what to expect.”

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http://thehill.com/homenews/house/57403-liberals-ready-to-strike-on-afghanistan

Instead, I've got to say Obama has been more concerned about ratings, and seems to have forgotten how you KEEP long-term ratings... by doing what is right. Too many deals will come back to bite you when you try to satisfy too many people. Even Cheney knew that. This is just one argument about Afghanistan. I'm not even going to start on healthcare.

Let's put it this way: If you think it's right, give people that. If they believe you and keep you around, you've done it right and you'll be all that much more popular for it. Just like the stock markets, there's too much of a concern about short-term performance.

When you look at Afghanistan and the way the energy markets are moving, pipeline economics are no longer viable. It's all alternative energy innovation and sustainability which will win out in the long term. Trying to preserve the past structures at the expense of war and refusal to change will bring this country to its knees. So our government is literally pissing away all those soldiers', combatants' and bystanders' lives, along with all the money associated with that effort. It's pretty obvious that we could very easily sidestep the whole situation. And I will guarantee you, the idea of mutual assured destruction will likely always apply if we choose not to engage a billion dollars of resources and people a day in yet another unnecessary so-called police action.

What are they doing gumming up the Democratic party?

First it's universal heath care, then no war. What next? Equal pay? End to discrimination?

Well. At least their not as bad as the progressives. We need to purge them both from the party. Then our corporate sponsors will really let the money flow.

(Just in case: :sarcasm: )

Obama is escalating this war and he owns it. This war is turning into Vietnam.