Obama Copies Bush

I'll give Obama credit, at least he copied Bush in a good way by using his own "surge" in Afghanistan to stem Taliban advances. The problem is, he's given into his far left base in providing an end date for withdrawal (or at least draw-down). If the Taliban can hold out for 18 months, they'll have a free ride to continue their onslaught of the Afghan government.

Nevertheless, the same type of strategy that worked for General Patraeus in Iraq will be used in different form by General McChrystal in Afghanistan in an attempt to provide a lasting and stable government in the same area that bogged down Alexander the Great, the English, and the Russians.

Can it work? Probably, because the American, Canadian, British, and Polish soldiers are willing and capable of great sacrifice to achieve victory. Unfortunately, Obama is acting like a "Copperhead" Democrat. The Copperheads were the Democrats who believed in peace at any price during the American Civil War. The vehemently opposed Lincoln, abolition of slavery, and the Emancipation Proclamation in an effort to stop the war against the "Rebels" of the South.

George Will, who has advocated withdrawal from Afghanistan, is extremely skeptical of Obama's plan:

The president's party will not support his new policy, his budget will not
accommodate it, our overstretched and worn down military will be hard-pressed to
execute it, and Americans' patience will not be commensurate with Afghanistan's
limitless demands for it. This will not end well.
A case can be made for a
serious, meaning larger and more protracted, surge. A better case can be made
for a radically reduced investment of resources and prestige in that forlorn
country. Obama has not made a convincing case for his tentative surgelet.

Other columnists believe Obama is asking soldiers to die for a half-assed effort in Afghanistan:

Yet, as quickly as the courageous words left Obama's mouth, they were slain from behind by words of cowardice.
The president told Americans -- and our patient, stone-age enemies around the world -- that we plan to fight hard for a while before beginning to pack up and head for home in 18 months.
Obama assures us that the withdrawal will be done responsibly, recognizing conditions on the ground.
But the president telegraphed to the terrorists that the draw-down of forces will begin in July 2011.

But Obama the amateur may be showing his cards once again. He's angered the left-wing fringe of his base by expanding the war and alienated many hope-enthralled supporters who thought he was the anti-Bush (which he is in many ways). Republicans and moderate Democrats will support the increased effort towards victory, but they will fall away if the task of victory is far from complete in 2011.

Jimmy Carter II, as I predicted.