Cheney the blowhard versus Obama's H.I.D.

Watching Dick Cheney and the Obama administration engage in yet another round of bastard slapping is, I'll admit, highly entertaining. This is not said to diminish the life and death reality of the issue at hand - Afghanistan. I say it to point out an absurdity in the middle distance: Both sides seem powerless. Cheney is. Obama loves his power until he needs to make a decision that will displease some faction. So, at least for the moment, Obama has created a sense of powerlessness for himself on this issue . The impending Afghanistan decision lingers around him wherever he goes. Obviously, I can not know if Obama fears tough decisions...but it sure as hell seems that way.

Both Cheney's unwillingness to sail into the sunset and Obama's increasingly indecisive streak are an interesting clash. One man is a know it all with a horrendous track record, the other avoids tough decisions.

I've no patience for the "blame Bush" brigade in the White House. Even in those areas where Bush lead us astray, it's Obama's duty to lead and not whine about what he got himself into. The man wanted the job. Then again, Cheney is a piece of work. The former V.P. giving anyone advice on Afghanistan is like getting marriage counseling from a Gabor sister. Cheney and Bush screwed the Afghan pooch...big time...if there is one arena where Obama can rightfully blame the bushies it is Afghanistan.

On the other side -

What Cheney exposes in Obama is an indecisiveness that belies his stance as wise and above it all. ( Does Obama have H.I.D. - Hesitantly Indecisive Disorder? )Asking for a 6 month review of Afghan policy after he took office was all well and good. Having the review land on his desk in August, then ineptly kicking the can down the road was foolish.

The mitigating factors here are the leak of the report to the press and the corrupt Afghan elections. Neither, in my estimation, should have been surprises and neither should have caused a delay in Obama executing the task at hand. That the Afghan government is corrupt is not news. Why was a corrupt election treated as a point of consternation? Of course, American soldiers are fighting in a corrupt nation. Of course, the long arm of American power might have to slap Karzai around a bit. How can this be a surprise to Obama Administration officials? Forcing Karzai into a run -off ought to have no bearing of our military policy. Obama has to decide on American policy regardless who wins. I repeat: Afghan governmental corruption should surprise no one.

As for the leak - well, in D.C. a leak is like shit - it happens. This particular leak can't explain the last 2 months - that look for all the world like stalling. One ought to be able to assume that Obama was up to date on the facts in Afghanistan and McCrystal's report held few surprises. One also ought to be able to assume that Obama discussed all the eventualities with the pertinent administration players before the report was due. Any good chief executive would have.

Right?

Or are we to glean that Obama ordered the review, then walked away, believing he'd bought himself the better part of a year to deal with other things?


Cheney's value in snarking at Obama publicly is not in molding a policy discussion. He has no credibility on this issue. However, he does remind us that Obama should be further along on this issue by now.