IT WAS A POLITICAL NECESSITY...:

White House fears liberal war pressure (MIKE ALLEN, 9/1/09, Politico)

White House officials are increasingly worried liberal, anti-war Democrats will demand a premature end to the Afghanistan war before President Barack Obama can show signs of progress in the eight-year conflict, according to senior administration sources. [...]

“There’s no question that the drumbeat is going to get louder and louder on the left, and you’ll see some fall-off on the right,” said Matt Bennett of the think tank Third Way, the moderate voice of the progressive movement. “His supporters on the Hill are fighting a really serious political battle to keep the criticism under control.” [...]

George F. Will opened a new fissure among conservatives with a column Tuesday calling for the U.S. to pull all ground troops out of Afghanistan, on the theory on the French general Charles de Gaulle that genius “sometimes consists of knowing when to stop.”

But it’s Democratic opposition that could force Obama to retreat on what he has called a "war of necessity."

...for such an inexperienced fellow with no foreign policy credibility not to be seen to be completely weak as regards the WoT. It's not a security necessity. And we know he'll put personal politics first.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 1, 2009 8:46 AM