Editorial: Beer glass distraction downright discouraging

Matters are so twisted in Washington, D.C., that a simple glass of beer has become an incendiary device.

How else to explain the blogosphere brouhaha over the pints shared by President Barack Obama and Cpl. Dakota Meyer, the former U.S. Marine who received the Congressional Medal of Honor on Thursday? The two met Wednesday, at Meyer’s request, and a White House photographer took a picture that was tweeted by Press Secretary Jay Carney, and retweeted by the media, ABC News and Fox News included.

Perhaps it was all too predictable that charges the president was exploiting Meyer would explode on the Internet. The networks’ White House correspondents defended the meeting as nothing more than a quiet interlude now, sadly, robbed of its quietude.

But the nobility of Meyer’s actions, and his comments in their aftermath, remain untainted; a reminder members of our Armed Forces continue to perform heroically while our politicians snipe at each other from their marble foxholes. In an interview with ABC News’ Bob Woodruff, Meyer said, “If this is what it feels like to be a hero, you can have it.”

Imagine the president, senator or representative who might say, “If this is what it feels like to be a politician, you can have it.”

It would be encouraging, too, to see more do what Meyer did when he and a fellow Marine, Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriquez-Chavez, rescued 36 U.S. and Afghan troops and the bodies of four comrades: Show courage.

Unfortunately, success for the U.S. effort in Afghanistan remains elusive. A small force of Taliban fighters this week was able to sustain an engagement with troops around the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for 20 hours. They killed more civilians than police, and more children than adults among the civilians, but proved again they can attack anywhere if they are willing to sacrifice themselves and anybody caught in the crossfire.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the attack was no big deal, which it was not militarily. But for Afghans wary of choosing sides until they know which can assure their security, every “pop” from a weapon is a reminder of their vulnerability, one much more lethal than the fleeting anxiety Americans feel at the sound of a low-flying airplane.

Crocker, a Lewis and Clark High School graduate, has been steadfast in Kabul and Baghdad, his previous post as ambassador. If grit and intelligence can prevail against sheer fanaticism, Crocker has the goods as a statesman, as Meyer did as a Marine.

Surely there are Afghans with similar qualities but, after 10 years, they seem not to have been able to rise above the tribalism and corruption that is sapping Americans’ support for a conflict that has cost so much blood and treasure. Or, they have been assassinated.

How is it that we can be distracted from these problems by an argument over whether a beer is just a beer?