Options

Barack Obama, an unemotional man, will wind down the war in Afghanistan -- not just because he wants to but because he has to. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 7/27/10)

What exactly does “wind down” mean? Sounds to us like: surrender. Here’s another option…..

Reconciliation with the Taliban from a position of weakness -- granting the Taliban control over portions of the country -- bears a close resemblance to surrender.

This is the realistic alternative: Win first, then negotiate. (Michael Gerson, Washington Post, 7/27/10)

Clueless
"People will wait and see how that plays out," Pelosi said. "The committee has made its announcement and [outlined] its timetable, and I think that we just have to wait to see how that plays out. Because none of us, not any of us except those on the committee, has any knowledge of" what the charges are. (Washington Post, 7/27/10)

This is Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House or Representatives, and by all accounts a powerful person. And she apparently doesn’t know what Charlie Rangel did. After it has been pretty well documented in numerous news reports. This is the same Pelosi who said that we had to wait until the health care bill was passed to find out what was in it. Is she just not paying attention...or worse?

Really Special Interests
President Obama on Monday sought political advantage from the expected defeat of a campaign finance measure that he has championed by pre-emptively attacking its Republican opponents for “nothing less than a vote to allow corporate and special-interest takeovers of our elections.” (NYT, 7/27/10)

Obama added: “The fact that I was one of the largest recipients of money from Goldman Sachs and BP does not make me a hypocrite.”