Obama To Announce Increase Of US Troops For Afghanistan On December 1

Source: Huffington Post

President Barack Obama is expected to announce a "sizeable force" increase in US troops for Afghanistan early next week, tentatively December 1, according to a report from NPR.

Obama met with his war council on Monday evening to decide how many troops to send in addition to the 68,000 already deployed. According to the Associated Press, "Military officials and others said they expect Obama to settle on a middle-ground option that would deploy an eventual 32,000 to 35,000 U.S. forces to the 8-year-old conflict." General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in the region, had been pressing for 40,000.

After Obama's announcement next Tuesday, General McChrystal, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, are expected to testify on Capitol Hill.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/23/obama-to-announce-increas_n_368447.html

Link to NPR report: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120725456&sc=nl&cc=brk-20091123-1914

That, and of course Cheney's Assassin Gen. McChrystal is also change I can believe in.

:rofl: :puke:

FAIL

be shipping out right after the holidays.

What a nightmare this decision will turn out to be.

mistake again.

These people are not leaders. They are corporate appointees.

Enough.

You think this is bad? You think Obama is like Bush? At least Obama is focused on an exit strategy. Bush let this mess fester for 8 years and yet you think he and Obama are two peas in a pod? Sit on your asses in 2012, and you will see worse.

Some people don't only vote for the Party, some people don't vote unless given a reason. Their votes must be earned. And, you can't blame them when your candidate loses because they fail to realize that.

A good candidate will build a winning coalition. If Obama's team calculates that they can afford to lose Liberals, they will be cut loose in an instant. If they can make up any lost Liberals with Independents, they will happily do it. The moderate, centrist path is the easiest to produce accomplishments.

They just better hope that they don't under-estimate the number of Lefties or over-estimate the indys.

So tell me where the fuck you will go in 2012. Are you voting republican because Obama is just like Bush? Will you waste your vote on an idealistic shit head like Kucinich and weaken Obama's chance for reelection? This I have to hear.

Liberals WILL fall in line in 2012 or they run the risk of getting another President Bush. You talk tough NOW because it is the first year of Obama's presidency. But when you are facing the threat of another republican winning the White House, you'll change your tune. Picking a president is choosing between the lesser of two evils whether you like it or not.

i've abstained on plenty of races throughout the years- i refuse to vote for a candidate that i don't support.
and if i can't support obama in 2012, i can't vote for him. so far- he hasn't given me any reason to.

I would never sit out an election, and I would never vote for a repuke nor would I do a thing to help one.

I am talking about electoral politics. The base, the activists, the donors are not going to feel compelled to put their time, effort and resources into something that isn't giving results. Obama is going to have to take some more liberal actions between now and 2011, that all.

I just saw on AC360 that Obama's rating has fallen to 49% and Palins has gone up to 43%

Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama: The approval gap silently shrinks to a few points

=cut=

Depending, of course, on which recent set of numbers you peruse and how the questions are phrased, 307 days into his allotted 1,461 the 44th president's approval rating among Americans has slid to 49% or 48%, showing no popularity bounce from his many happy trips, foreign and domestic.

Riding the wave of immense publicity and symbiotic media interest over her new book, "Going Rogue," and the accompanying promotional tour, Palin's favorable ratings are now at 43%, according to ABC. That's up from 40% in July.

One poll even gives her a 47% favorable.

Most recent media attention has focused on the 60% who say she's unqualified to become president. Her unfavorable rating is 52%, down from 53%, which still doesn't ignite a lot of optimism for Palin-lovers.

On the other hand, 35 months before the 2008 election, that Illinois senator was such a nobody that no one even thought to ask such a question about him. Things seem to change much more quickly these days.

More: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/not-that-it-matters-politically-because-shes-a-republican-idiot-and-hes-a-democrat-geniusbut-sarah-palins-poll-numbers-are-c.html

i'll be working for progressive candidates, especially in the democratic presidential primary.

but i don't see how i'd ever be voting for obama, or any dlc dino types that might make it to my ballot in the general election.

A second time.

I will work for a primary challenger.

What is going to happen if I sit out?

Will I get a President who will expand Bush's policies and wars?

Will I get a President who will sell health insurance reform that enslaves the American people to big insurance & pharm?

Will I get a President who wants to renew the Patriot act?

Or, a President who appoints the architects of the economic failure to the head financial positions in his administration?

Maybe I will get a President who refuses to stand up for gay equality?

Or, a President who believes the Hyde amendment should stay law?

God, that would be terrible!

Stop defending the indefensible.

to Bush's exit strategy for Iraq: Escalate the war so as to avoid "losing face" (basically, the Kissinger solution in SE Asia ca. 1969-74). Face it, we've already "lost" in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It's now merely a question of how many more will die before even the most blood-thirsty of the war pigs has had enough.

:shakes head in disbelief: smilie

:eyes:

You can ignore it until the announcement if you want. You would be incredibly naive and poorly informed to deny the escalation is coming.

Thanks for lying to us Barack. Really, you're no better than Bush. You're covering up his crimes, which makes you complicit.

More war. Health care? Eh, toss the little folks a carrot and they'll shut up.

Gay rights? Equality for all? No biggie, you got yours so to hell with everyone else.

No more money, Obama.

Has Bill been thrown under the bus yet along with Krugman, Chomsky, women in general and any chance of torturers ever been held accountable?

Thanks!

People mean nothing in anything no matter what. We have no voice we have a damn vote that means nothing at all. We are handed a choice between shit and human waste.

Boooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

between this and the crappy healthcare legislation -it's like he's daring people to march on dc.

only because he knows they won't.

not as long as they've got message boards on the internets where they can vent their rage and anger.

:thumbsdown:

This was one of the things he and McCain agreed together on. There are no broken promises here.