THE WEAKNESS PROJECTOR:

Obama's desperate surge (Simon Jenkins, 12/02/09, The Guardian)

Barack Obama's announcement of an Afghan "surge" is his frantic bid to rescue what promises to be a stumbling re-election campaign that must start in 2011. It oozes with his desperation not to be in Afghanistan. The question is how best to disengage

Obama's focus on withdrawal could jeopardize Afghan mission (Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers Jonathan S. Landay, Mcclatchy Newspapers

President Barack Obama's effort Tuesday night to reassure Democrats who oppose the deployment of another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and to emphasize a U.S. exit strategy to pressure Afghan President Hamid Karzai to reform his corruption-riddled government could backfire.

The Taliban , al Qaida , their allies and their patrons in Pakistan and the Middle East , as well as America's partners, may think that Obama's pledge to begin withdrawing troops by July 2011 signals a lack of U.S. staying power and dilutes any incentives for insurgents to switch sides or negotiate a political accord.

Obama's Half-Hearted Surge (Gregor Peter Schmitz, 12/02/09, Der Spiegel)

As expected, US President Barack Obama promised a large increase in the number of American troops in Afghanistan. But at the same time, he promised to begin pulling them out already in 2011. His speech offered many details, but little vision. And Obama failed to adequately explain a war that many no longer support.

It's odd to have a president who simply does not need to be taken seriously.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 2, 2009 6:31 AM