JUST LOOK AT THE TENACITY WITH WHICH HE STOOD BY WRIGHT, REZKO, AYERS, JONES...:

The Tenacity Question (DAVID BROOKS, 10/30/09, NY Times)

I’ve called around to several of the smartest military experts I know to get their views on these controversies. I called retired officers, analysts who have written books about counterinsurgency warfare, people who have spent years in Afghanistan. I tried to get them to talk about the strategic choices facing the president. To my surprise, I found them largely uninterested.

Most of them have no doubt that the president is conducting an intelligent policy review. They have no doubt that he will come up with some plausible troop level.

They are not worried about his policy choices. Their concerns are more fundamental. They are worried about his determination.

These people, who follow the war for a living, who spend their days in military circles both here and in Afghanistan, have no idea if President Obama is committed to this effort. They have no idea if he is willing to stick by his decisions, explain the war to the American people and persevere through good times and bad.

Their first concerns are about Obama the man.

Speaking of statements of faith....how do they know there's a man there?

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 30, 2009 3:09 PM