Ken Berwitz

General Stanley McChrystal is in command of our forces in Afghanistan.  He was appointed to that position by Robert Gates, President Obama's Secretary of defense.

General McChrystal says that the 21,000 soldier troop surge handed to him by President Obama is not enough, and he needs 45,000 more - otherwise we can lose this war.

A few points to be made: 

-Where is the media outrage about a troop surge in Afghanistan - the 21,000 OR the possible additional 45,000?  Did they not express outrage when President Bush signed off on the troop surge in Iraq - the one that eventually turned the war around? 

-If the answer to the previous point is there is no outrage because President Obama is right and troop surges are necessary, then a) how come they were not demanding them during the Bush administration and b) how come they aren't going wild over the fact that Mr. Obama is diddling and doodling and dawdling instead of providing the additional 45,000?  

-On this morning's Today show, senior White House correspondent Chuck Todd (yeah, the guy with that annoying, arrogant manner and the pretentious facial hair) told us that it will be weeks before President Obama makes his decision about the troop surge.  According to Todd, Mr. Obama will meet with Gates, and Hillary Clinton, and Biden, and combinations of them, and maybe your accountant and dry cleaner too, who knows?  Then aaa-a-a-n-n-n-n-n-y-y-y day afterwards he'll decide. 

Doesn't that hit you as a case of letting our troops get tagged for too long before something is done?  The commanding general told President Obama more troops were needed in August, and warned of significant consequences if this were not acted on.  If But if Todd is right, Mr. Obama's decision will come at least a month afterwards. 

That is untenable.  Either send them or don't. 

-Last Friday, Charles Krauthammer, speaking on Fox News, speculated that McChrystal will resign over this.  He may well be right.

What will Mr. Obama and his flaks do if McChrystal resigns and/or if the war in Afghanistan continues degenerating into the high-casualty mess it has become under his "leadership"?  Try to lay it off on President Bush, like every other of the mounting number of this administration's failures?

Remember:  President Obama said that Afghanistan was a war of necessity.  President Obama signed off on the first troop surge.  President Obama's administration appointed the commanding general who is telling him it wasn't anywhere near enough - and whose troops are being denied the new surge by Mr. Obama.  It would take a convention of the brain-dead to blame this on anyone but Barack Obama.

One last point, which comes in the form of a suggestion for President Obama:  How about getting the eff off TV long enough to DO something about this?  How about giving up the Sunday shows (other than the ones on Fox, of course), and the late night joke-fests with Letterman, and taking care of your responsibilities as commander in chief? 

What a refreshing change that would be.