I understand why she said this but I disagree with her. I NEVER heard Obama use the word Victory, NOT ONCE. He smeared the Bush Administration, and the look on the cadet’s faces said it all. He also did not say “God Bless our troops” at the end of the speech(she might have missed that).
I agree. Most of the time I agree with her, but this time I have to say she’s off base.
She didn’t see the speech (at a book signing). This may have been written beforehand. I hope she “revises and extends” her remarks.
I think she said what she had to say.
“We’re in it to win it.” Well, that may not be Obama’s position, but it’s hers.
Finally, Obama came through with the troops. No harm in giving him credit for finally doing that almost right.
Then she goes on to say that we can’t set an exit deadline. Well, Obama just did. In other words, she is disagreeing with him, but politely.
The problem is that if she really let’s fly and says what we all think—that this is a strategy to lose—that will only encourage the enemy EVEN MORE.
Yet I think she had to say something. Really there was no good response to this idiot/Communist/Muslim in the White House.
Her response was to the substance of the decision, not the words used. She criticized the delay in making the decision, and the mention of withdrawal while saying that we’ll be watching to make sure that he holds to his commitments. Had her response been a total negative, she would have defined herself as opposed from the start and wishing for a failure. A smart response.
We all know what he really said was that he caved in and agreed to send more troops but that he will pull them out if they don’t get the job done right away (McCrystal’s fault) or if the Afghans play games (Karzei’s fault), or if there are too many casualties (he’ll blame that on Bush).
She didn’t say HE said anything about victory. Sounds like she’s saying that IF we’re in it to win it, she’s supporting his decision, though she knows that he’s not that hot to trot about it. She just wants to support the troops, because she knows that’s what they desperately need.
Talk of an exit date also risks sending the wrong message. We should be in Afghanistan to win, not to set a timetable for withdrawal that signals a lack of resolve to our friends, and lets our enemies believe they can wait us out.
She has always said we should listen to our Generals and fight to win. To oppose the troop surge would be a non-sequitur. She approves of THIS part.
However she hardly hides her criticism of Obama's defeatist talk.
LLS