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July 1, 2010

Obama's Detrimental Deadlines

American Enterprise Institute, American Enterprise Institute

AP Photo

What is it with President Obama and artificial deadlines? First he set a deadline for shutting down Guantanamo by January 2010--yet the detention center remains open and the New York Times reports that the White House has given up on closing it before Obama's term ends. Instead of learning from that experience, Obama set another misguided deadline--this time to begin an American withdrawal from Afghanistan by July 2011. Whether the president realizes it or not, he is going to have to abandon that deadline as well--and the sooner he does so the better. The Guantanamo deadline only cost him some momentary embarrassment; the Afghanistan deadline could cost us a war.

At his confirmation hearing tomorrow, Gen. David Petraeus will be pressed to answer a difficult question:...

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TAGGED: Obama, David Petraeus, Afghanistan, the New York Times

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