Huckleberries Online

Idaho Solons Back Afghan Plan

Posted by DFO

Dec. 2, 2009 8:17 a.m. • 2 comments

Vietnam War veteran Rep. Walt Minnick sat in the auditorium at West Point on Tuesday surrounded by men and women in cadet gray uniforms being told by a president they could lose their lives in another Asian country. “It was an honor to be here, a generation later,” said Minnick, one of seven members of Congress asked to attend President Barack Obama’s speech on raising troop levels in Afghanistan. “There was rapt attention in that room. Their futures are on the line.” The Idaho Democrat said Obama articulated the need for more troops to Afghanistan, with clear but limited objectives and a specific timetable: “I think he made it very clear that this is different from Vietnam”/Jim Camden, SR. More here.

Question: Did President Obama’s speech reassure you re: his approach to Afghanistan?

Two comments on this post so far. Add yours!

hmoffsuite on December 02 at 9:56 a.m.
I watched the speech intently as I was very interested in what Obama would have to say, after taking all this time to figure out his plan. His speech, as most, was wonderful in terms of delivery. The content, of course, was another matter. Obama sent mixed messages and it seemed the speech was a political compromise. He showed a severe lack of commitment to the war and by putting out a timetable for withdrawl, suggested that we are more anxious to get out (satisfy the liberals) than we are in accomplishing our mission. When he decided to bring the cost of the war into discussion, he really concerned me. The cost of that war is a fraction of what he has already spent on his social engineering programs with the stimulus and proposed health care reform. Although he mentioned we are at ‘war’ in Afghanistan, he never, not once, used the word ‘win’ in his speech. This speech should not have been formulated as a poliltical tap dance. I think that Afghanistan is going to haunt Obama throughout his presidency.
OfCoffee on December 02 at 10:32 a.m.
I agree with Suite except for one thing - I thought the delivery of the speech was horrible. My wife (not a political person) asked, “Did he even practice that?” I was amused at how many cadets were falling asleep in the crowd.

I think Obama is a better campaigner than office holder.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.