Reaction to President Obama's Speech on Afghanistan

By GottaLaff

Taegan's not feeling all that positive about President Obama's speech, thinks we'll be there for years, and doesn't think the president changed any minds. He also gives us some input from a few others:

Andrew Sullivan: "I confess I do not feel those highest hopes. I do not share his confidence in American military and civilian power to turn the roiling region of Afghanistan and Pakistan into something less threatening. I see no reason after the last eight years to see how this can happen, even with these new resources. But if you rule out withdrawal right away, then this seems to me to be about the smartest strategy ahead. But I see absolutely no reason to believe that it will mean withdrawal of any significant amount in Obama's first term."

David Kurtz: "I know many progressives are disenchanted with this decision, but I'm struck again by how Obama is crafting a new progressive narrative for foreign policy and national security. Not just reality-based, though it is that. But an affirmative, positive rationale. Not a reaction to the conservative foreign policy orthodoxy, though it certainly acknowledges it."

John Aravosis: "I think Obama did a good job, especially for a Democrat, on a major military speech. Democrats enter this territory with certain disadvantages. That's why, I think, that Obama did a great job of using the pomp and circumstance of office, as Bush and other Republicans always do, to lend an air of dignity to the evening.

As Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell) said on Countdown tonight, "He came up with the least worst" option. This, to me, seems to be the consensus.

Steve Clemons (also on Countdown) opined that "the Pashtun needs to be more of Obama's target".