Now that we have heard the rationale and the decision from our President himself, I feel equipped to form a reasonable opinion on the issue of Afghanistan. I read with great interest the thousands upon thousands of conclusions and empassioned pleas from supporters and detractors alike hours before a word had even been uttered and felt a bit of hopelessness in our future as a nation, given that opinions now harden like stone well before facts are even laid out on the table. Before orders are given. Before our role in this Democracy even begins.
So now our President has spoken to us directly. As no President has in nearly a decade...
Plain and simple. If it's Obama's war - I applaud.
This speech and the strategy behind it underlies our expectation as a people - careful wisdom, thoughtful approach, a PUBLIC commitment to specific goals and the backdrop for actions taken.
It also represents a dramatic shift from how war was waged previously. It makes the reasoning and expectations transparent. It makes the accountability for results specific and measurable. It speaks in milestones, and expectations, and timelines, not in flag waving, fear-mongering and shrouded intentions. It reminds us that to live as we do, and to lead as we do, we cannot always take the easy or innocent route, but to act otherwise we have to have firm justification, based on reasoned principles and a moral standing that is easy for the world to recognize. Quite simply, it is 21st century America as it should be.
I personally wish this type of clear, direct and forceful rationale had been offered much sooner, with respect to how we are waging war on job losses, corporate fraud, health care reform and gay rights. Maybe this is the dawn of a new era in progressive politics, and he has chosen to summon it on ground that Republicans have sown and reaped - to vividly paint the differences between leadership and cowardice, reason and ignorance.
We Progressives are no better than our counterparts on the right if we hold our leaders to a zero tolerance, immediacy-based agenda that simply cannot be practically imposed in under a year. That we take a stand for or against this is just, and expected, but to condemn an Administration and the man who heads it as a sell out, weak, compromising ideals or fraudulent is disingenuous, erroneous and misguided.
This decision, in my eyes, took great courage. To make it in the face of such huge obstacles, from "friends" and "foes" alike here at home shows great poise and strength. To place trust in the wisdom and values of an American populace during a time in our nation's history where we all seem very incapable of processing and acting upon such trust, is admirable, and makes me remember what I saw in him and his vision. To President Obama I simply say, keep your judgment unbiased, keep your vision focused, and keep the lines of communications open as you have tonight. This is how we regain our nation. This is how we raise the level of debate. This is how we lead in a global age where our resources and collective wills will be tapped like never before.
One thing President Obama says over and over again, in setting after setting, is that "this will not come easily". Those words inspired me well before he was elected. They mean something to me now. They have driven me to action and not Monday Morning Quarterbacking. Yet I wonder, how many of us have really internalized how difficult the fight will be. How far behind we've set ourselves as a nation. How hard our ancestors really had it to build what we have today. Whether we have what they had - whether have the stomach for the fight beyond a computer and an internet line.
I stand proudly behind our President and our nation tonight. No flag waving. No naivete. Just a small but significant step in building on the unity that our President has once again pleaded for, and the unity that will see us through the rocky road ahead.
To believe that this nation and the political processes that drive it could be turned 180 degrees around in less than a year is foolish. To believe that snapping your fingers and ending a war today won't create potentially devastating effects later that none of us could really comprehend is myopic. Do we honestly believe that this President is motivated in this decision by anything but doing what's best for this country, given the massive wealth of intelligence and expertise he is privy to that we aren't? If so, what and who could it possibly be that would convince us otherwise? Are we so stuck on blind principle and hard and fast truths that we fail to recognize nuance and complexity anymore? Would never having had the fortitude and foresight to ensure missiles stayed out of Cuba, and that the USSR failed in its efforts to win a cold war, left us better off and more secure as a nation? Are we certain that al Qaeda does not present the same clear and present danger?
Let us voice our opposition to this. Let us protest if this cuts against our beliefs. But let our discourse be against the war, and not against the man. Let our voices be heard on one side of an argument and not as a win at all costs diminishment of the merits and efforts of this Administration, even if this decision doesn't meet our beliefs.
That is what a functional America does. We had eight poignant years learning how not to behave and conduct a nation. Let us rise above those dark years and recognize that we can do better even during the toughest of challenges or decisions rendered on our behalf.