I know Afghanistan is serious, for the media tells me so.

The thing about the newspapers that still land on many a stoop across this great land every morning is that there is rarely any news in them. Which is to say that news "breaks" elsewhere. TV, the Internet etc. The "news" of any big event in the paper is already known to most everyone.

Much has been written about what this all means for print media. The big city papers and the small town papers will survive and the middle level papers are in trouble makes the most sense to me. So what is print media's place? That's the question. Often, it very much feels like that of a life coach...whispering in our ears "Look over here! This is important!"

All this is my lead up to saying: OKAY, I GET IT. OBAMA HAS A TOUGH DECISION TO MAKE ON AFGHANISTAN.

Now, I'm NOT criticizing any potential Presidential decision on Afghanistan in this post. I'm observing that a large portion of the media narrative right now is not about the potential decision - it's about how seriously Obama is taking it. How he's "listening" and "taking all factors into account" and having meetings, reading books, and being terrifically responsible and "won't be rushed". All of which one would assume is the norm for a President thinking about an ongoing war.

The Administration has not helped matters - Gates, Clinton and others have been tasked with making public pronouncements about Obama's deliberations. They were, no doubt, forced by the leaking of the McCrystal recommendations. It may also be civilian push back against the military. A way of saying "look we are in charge here. Not the Pentagon."

"Listen to the commanders on the ground and do what they say" is one of those often repeated, rarely examined memes that feels right but may not be in all cases. Lincoln and Truman famously did not "listen to commanders on the ground" all of the time. Judge the outcomes in those instances for yourself. Regardless, civilian control of the military is an essential element of a democracy. Listen with respect to the commanders on the ground and question them with respect - is the proper stance for an elected Preisdent.

I want the President do be serious and deliberate about such matters. Who doesn't? However, I wonder why we need such overt, loud reminders that he's being serious and deliberate. I hope it's because of the obvious: Whatever he decides to do he's going to anger many people and needs the country to know his decision was not taken lightly.

My fear is that Obama will attempt to split the baby down the middle and all this deliberation is to create cover for a half baked tactic masquerading as a strategy.

We shall see.

What we don't need is another week being reminded that the Commander-In-Chief takes war seriously. That ought to be a given.