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Obama Facing Doubts Within His Own Party on Afghanistan (ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID E. SANGER, 9/11/09, NY Times)

The leading Senate Democrat on military matters said Thursday that he was against sending more American combat troops to Afghanistan until the United States speeded up the training and equipping of more Afghan security forces.

The comments by the senator, Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, illustrate the growing skepticism President Obama is facing in his own party as the White House decides whether to commit more deeply to a war that has begun losing public support, even as American commanders acknowledge that the situation on the ground has deteriorated.

Senator Levin’s comments, made in an interview and in the draft of a speech he will deliver Friday, are significant because his stature on military matters gives him the ability to sway fellow lawmakers, and his pivotal committee position provides a platform for vetting Mr. Obama’s major decisions on troops.

As hard as it is to take a neophyte like the UR seriously on national security matters, a party that defers to Carl Levin on those questions is laughable. Democrats ought to support term limits just so they can get rid of the guys who were even on the wrong side in the Cold War.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 11, 2009 7:24 AM