General Eikenberry (ret.) to Afghanistan - Another Straw In The Wind

Obama will tap that retired General Karl Eikenberry as be the United States envoy to Afghanistan, says the Times:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has picked Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, a former top military commander in Afghanistan, to be the next United States ambassador to Kabul, an administration official said Thursday.

Tapping a career Army officer who will soon retire from the service to fill one of the country’s most sensitive diplomatic jobs is a highly unusual choice.

But Afghanistan specialists say that General Eikenberry, who served in Afghanistan twice, including an 18-month command tour that ended in 2007, knows the players and issues there well. That is a valuable commodity in a year when the United States will send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan and the country will hold presidential elections.

The Times feels the pain of their liberal readership:

If the Senate approves General Eikenberry, it would mean that four of the new administration’s most influential voices on Afghanistan policy will be active-duty or retired generals, fueling the concerns of some critics that the Pentagon has too much sway over America’s foreign policy.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of the Central Command; Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan; and Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine Corps officer who is Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, are all expected to play important roles in carrying out Afghanistan policy.

Indeed.  Yesterday the Times fretted that Obama was positioning himself to take advice from his generals and, hmm, show admirable flexibility on the 16 month withdrawal timeline Obama first dreamt up two years ago.  The notion that reality might intrude on Obama's plans caused a stir among the usual reality-based suspects but did not seem to faze anti-war Congressman James Clyburn.

Having served in Afghanistan, Eikenberry knows all about under-resourced wars and how to open the possibilty of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  He was never stationed in Iraq so I am not surprised that I can't find him saying much about that theatre at the DoD website but I would not look to him to be pounding the table for a rapid withdrawal from Iraq.

POIGNANT:  A plaintive plea from "Give withdrawal a chance" advocate Kevin Drum:

Obama also has a lot of credibility at stake over this. He said during the campaign that he wanted to withdraw within 16 months, and while there's a lot of room to fudge there, he still needs to show that he's serious about that. It may end up being 24 months instead of 16, and the residual force he leaves behind may end up comprising tens of thousands of troops, but he still needs to start. He needs to show the world that his word is good.

His word is good?  President Expiration Date?  The FISA flip-flop is my personal fave but look at the wide-ranging menu...

[CLICK FOR END OF THREAD]

Comments

[clarice]

There you go being cynical..Didn't O say that is the worst sin of all?
You might need a little session with our de-cynicizer,Hit.

[Neo]

I don't think that it is a coincidence that press coverage of the "Afghanistan is a good war" has fallen off the map.

The latest meme seem to circle around Pakistan is the center of gravity for the GWOT (or whatever it's called any more).

The "good war," like communism, is always "just over the horizon."

[peter]

Afghanistan and Pokky-stan are good wars because they weren't George Bush's wars. Perhaps President Obama can overcome his present dilemma by appointing George Bush as Ambassador somewhere, maybe France.

[Neo]

And what of that happy U.S.-Muslim relationship that Obama imagines existed “as recently as 20 or 30 years ago” that he has now come to restore? Thirty years ago, 1979, saw the greatest U.S.-Muslim rupture in our 233-year history: Iran’s radical Islamic revolution, the seizure of the U.S. Embassy, the 14 months of America held hostage.

.. Obama must really like Jimmy Carter or something. Maybe he just doesn't remember (or know) anything.

[Jane]

fueling the concerns of some critics that the Pentagon has too much sway over America’s foreign policy.

Anything but that.

[hit and run]

There is only one cure for Obama-Induced-Cynicism (OIC).

That's gently stroking the silky plaited mane of your Obama-given unicorn.

But seeing as how the promise of a unicorn was just another Obama lie, those who are infected with OIC must focus on treatment rather than a cure.

There is a proven efficacious treatment available to help ameliorate the symptoms, of OIC.

It come in 12 ounce doses.

[Sue]

OT, but is anyone else having problems accessing Ace's site?

[Danube of Thought]

Mr. Obama's quagmire.

[Neo]

fueling the concerns of some critics that the Pentagon has too much sway over America’s foreign policy.

Keep in mind that Bush had this problem too.

Knowingly or unknowingly, General Casey was doing a great job of blowing smoke up Bush's ass while soldiers were dying in Iraq and Bush (and the Republican Party) were dying at home.

Bush had to go around the Joint Chiefs to get General Petraeus to save his butt.

[clarice]

First global court re war crimes a bust..naturally..nincompoops.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090130/ts_csm/ojustice

[Jane]

I'd prefer the Pentagon's sway over Obama's opinion any day of the week - it can't be worse than he is.

You know it's pretty amazing that in one week, every predicted weakness of Obama has come to the forefront. He's just rhetoric, nothing else.

[Neo]

clarice: It reads like a bad movie script

[Chris]

Did it ever occur to Drum that there are large parts of the world (namely many allies) who are hoping his word isn't good and much of it was merely campaign rhetoric? Probably not.

Sue,
Ace is down, at least for me.

[Amused bystander]

Hit: lol

[centralcal]

Yes, Sue. Confederate Yankee's site which is also mu.nu isn't working either.

[MayBee]

I remember the days when Bush was being told to listen to the Generals. Do you all remember those days?

Afghanistan and Pokky-stan are good wars because they weren't George Bush's wars.

Actually, Afghanistan was a bad war until Iraq came along. Remember Sy Hersch saying it was started so we could build some pipeline? Remember how it should have been treated as an international police action?

Had Iraq never happened, the left would have made sure Afghanistan was the center of their ire.

[MayBee]

I looooove the way Drum wants Obama to prove his word is good by....not necessarily following through with what he promised, but by making himself look busy.

[kim]

It's all Bush's fault. Knowing that war in Afghanistan was unwinnable, Bush marched off to Iraq for a quicky win he could hang his legacy upon.
==================================

[DrJ]

OT, but this is interesting.

Insider plot to take down Fannie Mae's servers thwarted

Friday, January 30, 2009 09:34

Washington (DC) - On October 29, 2008, a vigilant senior Unix engineer happened across a "logic bomb" that was allegedly planted by a contractor, Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana, who had worked in their Urbana, MD facility until October 24, 2008 when his contract was terminated. The script was set to activate on January 31, 2009 and would completely wipe all of Fannie Mae's 4,000 servers.

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-41262-118.html

[Jane]

Steele and Duncan are tied after the second vote.

[narciso]

The retreat from Kabul, Maiwand, referred to in Doyle's tales regarding Watson,
Kipling's many poems, and tales, one particularly referred in a recent thread.
There's a reason why they've it called the
"graveyard of empires" for the British and the Russians. Steyn's jibes aboutthe "harsh Afghan winter' do have a scintilla of truth, though. It really has little to do with Afghanistan proper, and more with the spread of Deobandi Salafism.

Good move, though on the President's part, the fact that it ticks off Kevin Drum (who can't read a map to realize the strategic
nature of Iraq, and the always
unintentionally entertaining Matt Yglesias
(this is what you get from Dalton and Harvard)gives it an extra kick. So the CBC's Clyburn, which one recalls was upset that the surge, was going to make it harder
to retreat from Iraq, apparently isn't so keen on troops timetables, huh.

[clarice]

I don't know much about Dunca, but I love Steele.

[bad]

Obama's five hidden power players. LUN

[Jane]

I think Duncan is the current head - and since we know nothing about him, we now know everything.

[Danube of Thought]

"Bush had to go around the Joint Chiefs to get General Petraeus to save his butt."

Not really. Since the Goldwater-Nichols reorganization (1986) the Joint Chiefs have been completely out of the operational chain of command. The war-fighting chain goes directly from the president to the SecDef to the Combatant Commanders (e.g., CentCom).

[centralcal]

Go Steele!

o/t: Rush has recorded his own Ad (so there MoveOn!) and it will run on 600 stations nationwide. Go Rush!

[bad]

The script was set to activate on January 31, 2009 and would completely wipe all of Fannie Mae's 4,000 servers.

Is this an outside the box way to deal with toxic mortgages... make them disappear?

[sbwaters]

Well, at least Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana worked at Fannie Mae and not for CERN at the Large Hadron collider... bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

[mer]

HOBO bomb found.

LU&

[Jane]

Andy McCarthy has an interesting article up about Steele and the republican party's refusal to fight. LUN

I too love Steele but I want to fight more.

I'm not sure anyone running is the answer.

[tom]

We're now the party of Rush,Palin,Joe and Bachman. I hope everyone's ok with that.

[narciso]

Blackwell's probably the best, he seems to be behind by all reports, Duncan,(what the hell is wrong with these people, how can he even be in the running?)is tied with Steele remember my comment about the base versus the party apparatus. Saltsman, is out of the picture, Katon! Dawson, the restricted country clubber from South Carolina, yeah give me more of that, honestly, (sarc) How would Rachel Lucas, put it, 'epic fail'

[JM Hanes]

tom:

For possibly the first time ever, I'm inclined to think that it's worth listening to David Frum on the subject of allowing celebrity commentators to become the public face of the Republican party.

[Porchlight]

Please, please not Dawson.

[narciso]

Your saying that, like that's some kind of insult there ,tom, it's always been that way. It had a more midWestern orientation
in the 20s, when Sinclair Lewis was
satirizing the Babbitts, or even Raymond Chandler was taking a slice at suburban
malaise (some one reminded me there's a line about orchids, by General Sternwood,
and the temperature it takes to raise them, in the 'Big Sleep' from a previous thread)
It's now more Southern and Western (Alaska
being more of the latter than the former)
Hence the screeds about the Sunbelt's malign
influence on Richard Nixon.Joe, former air force, enlisted, and blue collar figure from the midwest, unlike what Jason Zengerle describes as , 'the third wheel on the disastrous blind date between McCain & Palin', is kind of the future in terms of foreign news, which the likes of the Globe's Charles Sennott is unwilling to admit to.

[Danube of Thought]

Here's an intriguing gem from the Drum item:

"...while there's a lot of room to fudge there, he still needs to show that he's serious about that."

Why? Is it more important for him to show that he's serious about a hasty withdrawal than it is to ensure we don't lose? (I think I can guess what Drum's answer would be.)

[Appalled]

Tom:

I think the reality is that the party has been Rush, Palin, Joe, and their antecedents for a long time. I'd say the chances of that changing are fairly large. The question is whether the change is to something like Huckabee, or something more like Coburn (who could be the Barry Goldwater figure that makes the next Reagan possible).

Curious about the Gang of 14 reformng in the Senate to do somethng about Nancy P's dreadful stimulus package. Now THAT could be interesting to see.

[Barney Frank]

We're now the party of Rush,Palin,Joe and Bachman. I hope everyone's ok with that.

Well the John McCain, Ted Stevens, Kathleen Parker strategy didn't work out too well, so I'm willing to give em a chance.

[Sue]

JMH,

I've said it elsewhere but I'll say it here, that poll is phooey. Texans have always identified as democrats. Every local politician in my county is a democrat. A republican couldn't get elected here on a bet. But Clinton lost this county to Bob Dole. Texas isn't blue, when it comes to national politics. But those that were born a democrat will remain a democrat even if they vote for a republican.

[Barney Frank]

I think the reality is that the party has been Rush, Palin, Joe, and their antecedents for a long time.

I must have missed Rush and Sarah clamoring for the idiot Republicans to act like Democrats lite for the last eight years.
The party has been charecterized by principleless spending, entitlement and federal expansion, domestically and principled (but not necessarily conservative) and unfortunately hot very well executed foreign policy.
What does any of that have to do with Palin, Rush or their antecedants?

[narciso]

I think I just said that Appalled, but not in the way you meant it. Frum relies alot on Gallup data that shows that the GOP is at the same point as back in 1983, that's actually not that bad considering the complete hash Carter had made of things. Coburn is good as a congressional rallier
of forces, however one recalls how Obama tried to compare him to Ayers, to minimize the latter's toxicity. Rush maybe an imperfect vehicle for the message, but he serves like a reflector for the base, which then presses on the leadership to act. Huckabee I couldn't stand him before, I positively loath him now,

[Sue]

If you look at Texas history, you'll find that only 3 republicans have served as governors since 1874. Clements, Bush and Perry. Democrats held that office for 105 consecutive years.

[kim]

The Republican Party will become the backlash from the orgy of deception and fantasy that the Democratic Party has become in its immediate post-BDS phase.
==========================

[Porchlight]

Sorry if this has already been linked, but John Batchelor's piece on Rahm Emanuel in the Daily Beast (yeah, I know) is pretty great. Gossipy backstory on the House vote on the stimulus bill.

Of course it will be painted as "those petty Republicans" but I think it's informative on how Rahm's hamfisted tactics are backfiring.

Sticking it to Rahm

[narciso]

He means the base, Barn, that the white shoe Wall Streeters when not slinging subprime hash, or defending Gitmoterrorists
have to pretend to pay attention to. And you're right, prescription drug, closing Gitmo, and stuffing states with pork, wasn't in the end a winning message. Although Ted Stevens, maybe back because of malicious prosecution, did Fitz run this case too?

[MayBee]

I think the reality is that the party has been Rush

I don't think Rush for the Republicans is any different than the NYT editorial board for the Dems.
It's just that the NYTs supporting the Dems has all the other media outlets holding its influence up as legitimate. Rush, being Republican, has all the other outlets noticing he is a partisan with wide influence.

[sbwaters]

HOBO bomb found.

In 1990 I wrote a contest entry for "Newspapers & Technology" titled "Newspapers in 2010" that observed:

"We learned long ago that whoever controls the index controls the future."

[sbwaters]

HOBO bomb found.

In 1990 I wrote a contest entry for "Newspapers & Technology" titled "Newspapers in 2010" that observed:

"We learned long ago that whoever controls the index controls the future."

[sbwaters]

Sigh. Typhuspad again.

[Sue]

The difference between Rush and the NYTs is Rush doesn't pretend to be an unbiased news agency. The editorial staff at the NYTs has its editorial board being parroted on the front page. Rush is an entertainer, first and foremost. Talent on loan from God, fighting liberals with one hand tied behind his back, every inch of his magnificent body, formerly nicotine stained fingers, all said to amuse the audience. Conservative talk radio has a niche because there isn't a widespread market to listen to conservative views. Just as Fox News continues to kick butt in the ratings because liberals have so many other choices for their POV to be aired.

[RichatUF]

Barney-

Best wishes that the remaining trial goes your way.

The party has been charecterized by principleless spending, entitlement and federal expansion, domestically and principled (but not necessarily conservative) and unfortunately hot very well executed foreign policy.

It has also been associated as the party of sloth. The problem is that Bush's "compassionate conservatism" may sound pleasant but ends up as a hammer the Dems can then beat the Reps with. I'm not confident either the Reps aren't going to continue their march left off the cliff.

[bad]

I reaaly enjoyed that article, Porch.

WE HATE RAHM!!

What an anthem...

[hit and run]

Appalled:
or something more like Coburn (who could be the Barry Goldwater figure that makes the next Reagan possible).

Huh, triggered a memory.

Before Rush, Coburn also was used as Obama's right wing foil. Remember the debate where Obama defended his friendliness with Ayers by saying, hey, I'm friendly with that abortion doctor executioner wannabe Coburn, too.

[Ranger]

Someone pointed out that the Rs are working hard to frame this as a failure of Rahm and Pelosi (hot air maybe??). They can then lament that they really wanted to work with Obama and create a responsible package, but Obama was betrayed by the Dems and effectivly avoid the "obstructionist" tag.

And, by the way, this bill just keeps getting more carptacular... http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/01302009/news/columnists/change_for_the_worse_152723.htm>CHANGE FOR THE WORSE (via Instapundit)

This bill basically undoes the Welfare Reform of the 90s. I'm sure that will sit really well with independent voters when they figure that out.

[Appalled]

Porchlight

My own thought is that the stimulus bill, and how Obama has played it, is a pretty bad way to start an administration. If Obama has a return of the Gang of 14 in the Senate, he's going to take a hit to his post-partisan image. (Because it will then become clear that, despite his visit to sell the GOP leadership, Obama was not trying to compromise in a substantial fashion.)

Narcisco:

There's an argument that much of the southern version of Republicanism is dervied less from the midwest GOP (people like Taft, Ike, Vandenbug), and more like the old Souhern Dems like John Connally and Strom Turmond who joined the Republicans. I don't see the old midwestern GOP -- who were green eyeshade types with an isolationist tilt -- having much tolerance for the freespending and social interventionalism of Bush and the 2000-2008 GOP Congress.

[Tina]

Complete Off Topic, but I thought you all would find this both interesting and revolting:

"Some of the Most Historic Shirts Money Can Buy"

CNN is now selling Obama T-Shirts that say:

"Obama raises hand, lifts nation"

Have they finally crossed the line from being a "news" network to sheer propaganda for the one?

LUN

[MayBee]

The difference between Rush and the NYTs is Rush doesn't pretend to be an unbiased news agency.

I agree.
The other difference is Rush doesn't have everyone else pretending he is an unbiased news agency. The NYTs can only get away with their charade because others go along.
Obama criticized Rush, and all the news outlets are in a tizzy that Rush is the new head of the party.
McCain criticized the NYTs, and all the news outlets (and even some conservative pundits) were in a tizzy about how weak it looked to attack the messenger.

[Appalled]

OK -- That would be 2000-2006 Congress.

[Jane]

I reaaly enjoyed that article, Porch.

Me three. He and Gibbs aren't doing zero any favors.

[narciso]

I kind of said that Appalled, that was the way it used to be, then WW 2 got in the way.
Regardless the establishment figures regard those in the base, even if you have a Yale Law degree like Bolton or even Ashcroft as hicks or Klansman. Those who the media focus on from working class roots, like Letterman, peter principle weatherman from Muncie, Indiana, derive status fromattacking
their own roots. As I've pointed out, before, Chris Buckley's Ivy league patina, covers up the oil wildcatting that got his father and himself into the establishment.

[Jane]

So right now it is 62 Dawson to 60 Steele.

[Porchlight]

Duncan withdraws, most of his votes go to Dawson. Dawson ahead. Oh no...

Dawson - 62
Steele - 60
Anuzis - 31
Blackwell - 15

Live thread at Hot Air:
RNC Showdown

[bad]

He and Gibbs aren't doing zero any favors.

So it's not just me..you think Gibbs sucks too?

[Soylent Red]

I think the reality is that the party has been Rush, Palin, Joe, and their antecedents for a long time.

Not for at least eight years.

The reality is that Republicans fail when they become self-conscious about being Republicans. The failure has become so pronounced that Democrats are trying extort Republican votes by threatening to tell the public how conservative they are acting.

The Republican Party has been forced for the last eight years to "stand by our man." If only for the reasons of national security and social conservatism. Fiscal conservatism has been absent for quite a while. That conservatives have been bitching privately rather than publicly does not mean the absence of bitching.

Unfortunately, GWB (who I supported on most things, and who was better than either of the alternatives), and our Congress (whose sole mission appeared to be "Don't offend those people who seek your destruction") pushed the party leftward toward the mythical center, resulting in McCain being considered as a legitimate representative of the party. Democrats, straight faced, referred to McCain as too conservative, and like his colleagues, McCain became self-conscious about it and moved left. Uh, excuse me...bi-partisan. /sarcasm

It took Sarah Palin to bring in what base there was left to salvage. Had she not been on the ticket, McCain would have lost by 20%. And yet she was the only consistent voice of conservative values on the ticket.

Rush has been predicting that if Republicans kept moving left that there would eventually be no distinction with the Dems. McCain was a living embodiment of that principle, and he only avoided a complete crushing by putting an avowed conservative on the ticket.

Bottom line Appalled is that people are fed up with government, government spending, government corruption, etc. These are all conservative core issues. Barry had to promise tax cuts, a conservative core issue. Had we run a conservative, or even a reasonable facsimile of one, and pounded the conservative message home, we would have won.

[Sue]

I don't know who Dawson is.

[Porchlight]

Katon Dawson, SC - belonged (belongs?) to a whites-only country club. Great PR for the MSM, you can imagine.

[bad]

Steve Diamond has a new site. Check it out. LUN

[Extraneus]

Listening to Rush earlier, I really liked the expression "Obama's War on Prosperity." Great message, and consistent with Rush's war-parallel riffs about supporting Obama without supporting the mission, etc. Can't beat Rush for fun like that.

As for the topic of this post, I doubt that Obama has much interest in foreign policy. Iraq and all that were great bait to fire up the lib boobs, but the fact that he put Hillary in the SoS job tells me he'd just as well have left it to Bush if he could have. The more generals, Republicans, Clintons -- enemies, if you will -- the better for O if anything ever goes wrong.

While others focus on foreign policy, I think Obama's focus will be on domestic policy, where he has real plans, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing about foreign policy in Alinsky's book.

[Jane]

So it's not just me..you think Gibbs sucks too?

Yeah, and I suspect that might be the only thing we agree with Obama on - well he might have to come around a bit, but yeah.

[Jane]

As for the topic of this post, I doubt that Obama has much interest in foreign policy.

I agree with this too.

[RichatUF]

Dawson-chair of the SC party? Link

Hummm could it be a signal that Gov. Sanford is looking at 2012 or that is the direction the party wants to go? But I do recall that Gov. Sanford has had difficulties with the SC party in the past.

In narciso's formulation "they thirst for death".

[Soylent Red]

As for the topic of this post, I doubt that Obama has much interest in foreign policy.

Eikenberry will be a competent tender of the the garden until such time as Obama determines that he can withdraw from Afghanistan with relative political safety. He has no interest in being there whatsoever, or in the kind of things that will need to be done to stabilize the country enough to leave with a victory.

When the casualties mount, and they will, Obama will be looking to Eikenberry as either a scapegoat or the drafter of the withdrawal plan. I give it two years.

[clarice]

Oh dear, Soylent...that would be awful.

Just as we were beating heroin fields into pomegrante trees.

Iowahawk's on a roll today if you need a laugh as much as I do.Sample og his collection of third world aphorisms for libs to use:
"“The power of the leader is like his loincloth: worn too tight it will ride up and chafe, worn too loose it will expose all his junk.”
Ibo

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dburge/2009/01/29/it-takes-a-proverb-to-run-a-village/>Iowahawk

[narciso]

That's not mine, Rich, that Van Der Leun's but it fits sometimes, a little too well. Sanford, well he's good on budgetary issues but otherwise meh. Come on, if you really even have to think about holding on to South
Carolina in the presidential; you really are
in deep trouble. That interview didn't fill me with confidence. As I say I would have preferred Blackwell, if just for the skull taping Keith Olbermann would have after he was chosen, and more consistently
conservative on other issues; he was a UN envoy back in the Reagan administration, but that was not to be, because the party is not to put too fine a point on it, are idiots.

[Jane]

Ken Blackwell dropped out.

[Extraneus]

Did he throw his support to anyone?

“The man who builds his well at a distance soon laments when his wife’s mustache catches fire.” [Khazhak]

[Jane]

79 Steele - 69 Dawson - 5th ballot

[Porchlight]

Yes, Extraneus, to Steele.

[Porchlight]

Thanks Jane! I'm clumsily flipping back and forth between here and Hot Air...

[Extraneus]

Excellent.

[MayBee]

Dawson would be embarrassing.

[Porchlight]

Anuzis drops out, no endorsement...this is a nailbiter

[JM Hanes]

Sue:

I've never put as much stock in party IDs as some -- and Frum himself suggested that the country hasn't turned liberal overnight. The trend lines do seem worth noting though. I doubt that anybody would be surprised if Texas proved the exception to the rule? :-) Looking at the Virginia and North Carolina in this election, however, it's hard not to conclude that the distribution of the vote (urban vs. exurban) was actually more consequential than black voter participation, per se. IMO. we have just witnessed the demise of the solid south, Texas notwithstanding.

I don't think acknowledging that Rush et al only rally a certain portion of the Republican base, and alienate others, is an attack on either Rush or his fans. Huckabee both rallied some and alienated others too. They are both polarizing figures, each in his way, as often by design as not. Drama sells. The issue that Frum doesn't directly address, however, is that what's allowed commentators to take center stage is the void where actual Republican Party leadership should be. A lot of bad water will have flowed under the bridge before we find out if a potential leader like Palin can develop a a broader national constituency.

It's up to the politicians themselves, of course, to change all that, not figures like Rush or Hannity. Republicans in the House finally made some headway by taking a unified stand that no one could ignore, but I think there's a certain discouraging irony when they end up competing with Rush, as well as Democrats, for face time in the media. I'm not at all sure that's going to help Republican candidates, as a whole, win elections in 2010.

All of which is really just intended as food for thought.

[RichatUF]

SR-

Good point that Obama is looking for a door to get out of Afghanistan. A quick look at his bio though makes him an odd choice. A China expert, time as military attache at the US Embassy in China, Pacific Command, and NATO?

Could Obama be looking at for a China tilt in our policy in Central Asia and they want to lay the ground work in Afghanistan?

[hit and run]

Obama embraces Reverend Wright's denunciation of middle classness, appoints Joe Biden (Joe Biden!) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090130/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_labor>to head middle class task force..

[JM Hanes]

sbw:

I've noticed that my posts don't show up when I first return to the thread, until I refresh the page again. I'm wondering if perhaps people have been backing up when a post doesn't seem to have appeared, and thus inadvertently posting it a second time.

[DrJ]

JMH, I noticed the same thing yesterday, and also wondered if the double (or more!) postings were a consequence of that.

[JM Hanes]

I am praying for Steele. If it's Dawson, the Republicans will be fighting racist battles, fair or not, every step of the way -- at the unfortunate expense of widening the base by promoting Republican principles.

[PaulV]

Can Biden do no harm as middle class Czar?

[RichatUF]

JM Hanes-

Looking at the Virginia and North Carolina in this election, however, it's hard not to conclude that the distribution of the vote (urban vs. exurban) was actually more consequential than black voter participation, per se.

Toss in Florida. McCain lost the I4 corridor here after Obama in various campaign forums has promised to cut Constellation (and recall the Shuttle is retiring) {Canaveral}, cut dfense spending esp missile defense {Orlando and Tampa}, and promised to surrender in Iraq {Tampa, home of Central Command}.

I suppose even if McCain were to have held Orlando and Tampa, he wouldn't have made up his losses down south although Obama promised surrender to islamist terrorists, to toss Colombia to the FRAC, and a make nice policy with Castro and Chavez.

Christ has done such a good job he'll probably deliever the state as a solid Dem vote after 2010.

[clarice]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2009/01/controversial-cia-official-tap.html>I can't believe this

[hit and run]

Geraghty notes the next vote could end in a tie. You know what happens next...

Steele steps to podium and says, "Let's settle this on the golf course! Tell you what, I'll give you home field advantage. Oh, wait. Can I even play at your club?"

[clarice]

Crist..Leave Christ out of Cristendom.

[JM Hanes]

Anybody know how long it takes them to count the ballots? I'm dyin' here.

[JM Hanes]

Yes! Steele it is.

[Cecil Turner]

A general as envoy when proposing to double the combat troops in the region? I love the fact that lefties think this is weird. (I'm also a bit relieved the President isn't letting the Foggy Bottom Boys torpedo his war effort . . . yet.)

There are some interesting stories out there about the changing logistical situation in Afghanistan, in particular the search for safer supply routes and recent announcement of agreements to open a Northern alternative (though it was short on details). Now there's some good diplomacy (assuming it actually worked).

[Uncle BigBad]

It' Michael Steele

[Sue]

JMH,

I am not buying that map, period. Oklahoma blue? They voted McCain 66-34 in November. From November to now they have gone blue? I think I read somewhere that McCain won 91% of the precincts in Oklahoma. I think the party id will swing back towards republicans once they have a year or so of Obama under their belt.

[glasater]

"I Can't Believe This"

Well--at last the writers of "24" will have some new material for story lines:-)

[bad]

I can't believe this.

Well, now we know why Val was so popular at CIA.