Afghanistan: No policy, no strategy, no decision

Barack Obama has left Gen. McChrystal and his troops in Afghanistan hanging for better than 70 days without a decision on the strategic direction in Afghanistan. Strategic decisions, though, can only be made once a coherent policy has been articulated, and while Candidate Obama was pretty unambiguous in his campaign rhetoric that victory in Afghanistan was essential, President Obama won't even use the word "victory" in the context of Afghanistan. He's failed thus far to even articulate a policy on Afghanistan, and without a policy, formulation of a strategy isn't possible.

The reason this is moving so slow is because he can't foist the policy and strategy decisions on Congress; they're his decisions to make, and his alone. So while Obama scurries about trying to rush Congress into passing health care reform, cap & trade and card check legislation, he agonizes over the political ramifications of his Afghanistan policy.

Happy Veteran's Day.

Update: In the immortal words of John McEnroe, "You can not be serious!"...Obama votes "present".

Update 2: Uncle Jimbo rang the bell on this back in February.