After eight years of government by gut instinct, most Americans welcomed the arrival of a deliberative president. Yes, get the experts in. Reflect, weigh their advice. What a good idea.
And so it is if you are attempting, say, to reform the healthcare system. (A shame it was not tried.) There is even more to be said for taking your time if you are contemplating going to war. But when you are already fighting one, it has drawbacks. The US has been at war in Afghanistan for eight years – and it is losing. On this issue, Barack Obama is giving deliberation a bad name. He needs to make his mind up.
The White House is touchy about this and is deflecting critics by blaming the previous administration. Mr Obama is asking hard questions his predecessor ignored, goes the line. True enough, Mr Obama inherited a wretched situation – but the recent dithering is all his own.
The new president declared the fight a “war of necessity” and ordered an extra 20,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in March. That was the outcome of his own, supposedly fundamental, review of strategy. Since then Mr Obama’s chosen commander, Stanley McChrystal, has said that the Taliban is winning and is rumoured to have asked for as many as 80,000 extra troops, with 40,000 as a compromise. Suddenly the White House is rethinking “necessity”. The strategy adopted just six months ago – an adequately resourced counter-insurgency – is again under review.
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