Welcome To The Suck

When it comes to Afghanistan I've found myself drifting between hawkish and dovish leanings depending on the time of day and what column I read most recently. Yesterday morning I was dead set against sending more troops into a region where less than a quarter of the population is literate. This afternoon I'm open to hearing Obama's rationale. But I also keep rebounding away from the reasonably persuasive point that if we were to leave Afghanistan the Taliban would immediately set up shop again in Kabul.

The reason that line isn't working is because nobody is answering this question: "if a war’s not worth paying for, how can it be worth fighting?" That logic is a basic component gone missing. And is it really my patriotic duty to support an expansion of war while resisting paying more in taxes and maxing out my credit card in an effort to help banks over-leverage themselves and dish out insane bonuses? That's been the Bush-endorsed status quo since 9-11. And it hasn't served us well. Our debt (individual and federal) has exploded while the economy imploded. Now there's a neat trick. So what I'd like to hear from Obama is a way to pay for this war (an increase on capital gains?), coupled with a plan to pass a Jobs Bill that will help the middle class.

Also, too: In addition to the policy debate, there's the purely political considerations Obama faces and lessons learned from Somalia. Call it the inevitability of Afghanistan:

After the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993, conservatives demanded that Bill Clinton pull out immediately.  Not another American life was worth risking for a barren patch of dirt on the Horn of Africa.  Clinton refused, insisting that we "finish the work we set out to do," and kept troops in country for another six months before withdrawing in an orderly way.

And what happened? Conservatives turned around and immediately started building up a mythology that Clinton had lacked spine and immediately ran for the exits at the first sign of trouble.  Just like a Democrat to be so weak-kneed!  What's more, it's now received wisdom on the right that it was this panicky withdrawal that first convinced Muslim fanatics that America was weak and could be attacked with impunity.  In the end, Clinton took a hit for withdrawal even though he was the one who insisted on not cutting and running.

Either way Obama is a coward.