Reason Morning Links: Obama's War Surge, Gay Marriage Moves Ahead in D.C., Crickets on Drugs

• House banking committee set to pass bill that would "give the government the right to dismantle financial firms that pose a risk to the economy, even if they are healthy."
• Obama says 30,000 more troops, 18 more months in Afghanistan.
• Baltimore mayor convicted of gift card fraud.
• D.C. moves ahead with plan to legalize gay marriage.
• China's cricket fighting fans bemoan the influence of performance enhancing drugs.

Comments

[MadBiker]

A lot of my colleagues are praising Obama for his well-planned war effort and excusing his troop increase as necessary because he "inherited" this problem from Bush.

Didn't Bush also declare that his troop surge would be necessary and short-lived, as the troop surge would finally Break The Taliban and al Qaeda's Hold On Afghanistan?

I'm too riled to sound intelligent right now. And I don't have tenure so I dare not venture my opinions on Dear Leader's troop surge policy, lest I be seen as an Anti-Education Educator who shits on the government hands that feed.

[John Thacker]

Didn't Bush also declare that his troop surge would be necessary and short-lived, as the troop surge would finally Break The Taliban and al Qaeda's Hold On Afghanistan?

Aren't you referring to Bush's troop surge in Iraq, not Afghanistan? Which was temporary, in that the numbers went back down.

[John Thacker]

Didn't Bush also declare that his troop surge would be necessary and short-lived, as the troop surge would finally Break The Taliban and al Qaeda's Hold On Afghanistan?

Aren't you referring to Bush's troop surge in Iraq, not Afghanistan? Which was temporary, in that the numbers went back down.

[Xeones]

Obama says 30,000 more troops, 18 more months in Afghanistan.

I watched that speech last night, God knows why. It made me all irritable and queasy. Woodrow Wilson yet looms large o'er the political scape of this land, the fucker.

[MadBiker]

He's slick, I'll give Obama that. He is a convincing speaker. But being a master of rhetoric doesn't make you right, only convincing. And I wonder how many people, who think of themselves as intelligent individuals capable of detecting bullshit, are being sucked in by Obama's charisma rather than calling out the Emperor's nakedness.

[John Thacker]

Woodrow Wilson yet looms large o'er the political scape of this land, the fucker.

Wilson would have made reference to supposed bold moral goals. President Obama studiously avoided saying that we're in Afghanistan for any reason other than self-interest.

[T]

So Obama is making a virtue of selfishness?

[prolefeed]

His self-interest, not the public's self-interest.

And, as a liberal politician, he makes a virtue of selfishness, but can't call it that out loud, and for him selfishness involves forcing others into acting in ways that if voluntary would be altruism.

Obama certainly isn't advocating Ayn Rand's morality in "The Virtue of Selfishness".

[Kyle Jordan]

"House banking committee set to pass bill that would "give the government the right to dismantle financial firms that pose a risk to the economy, even if they are healthy."

So, does this mean that they'll dismantle the biggest threat to the economy if this passes? The biggest threat being the government itself. That would be awesome.

[FrBunny]

...[Obama] pledged to begin bringing home U.S. forces in 18 months.[my italics]

He has committed to much more than 18 additional months.

[Eddie Haskell]

The Congressional Black Caucus ... held up a vote on the legislation ... because it wanted the Obama administration to address unrelated joblessness issues facing the black community

Gee, that's a lovely stalling tactic, Representative Cleaver!

[Rich]

"I reject [prolonged engagement] because it sets goals that are beyond what we can achieve at a reasonable cost"

Now *that* is leadership.

[John]

I watched the Obama speech. As a side note, he sounded like a school marm. His reputation as an inspriational speaker should take a hit. What a boring lecturing speech.

I will hope against hope that this will work. I don't know what he or Petreus knows. So I can't honestly say it won't work. I don't know. I do, think there is a way for this to work out for him.

You have to remember that a war gives Congress an inordinate amount of power over domestic issues. The President has to go along with Congress on domestic issues if he wants support for a war. That is what happened to Bush. I know several people who know who have told me that Bush would have loved to have stopped the Republican Congress from stealing and would have loved to have vetoed some of those spending bills before 06. But, he couldn't because he needed Republican support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Obama is in the same position today. He can't tell the left wing of his party that the healthcare bill is complete crap and that cap and trade will destroy the economy and then expect them to support him on Iraq and Afghanistan. But, he can't walk away from either one and be the guy who lost the wars.

If he were able to at least make it look like he was ending the war in Afghanistan before 2012, that would give him the freedom to stand up to the left wing of his party. He could tell them that he ended the wars and that if they didn't like him running to the center on domestic issues, go vote for the war mongering Republicans.

He could really do this if, hopefully, the Democrats get killed in 2010. That would eliminate Pelosi and Reid tying him down. With the leftwing humbled by a horrible election and afraid of the Republican bogeyman again, he coule work with a Republican Congress, cut taxes and spending and perhaps get the economy turned around.

If he could do that and dodge a bullet by healthcare and cap and trade failing (both of which would prevent the economy from recovering and do long term damage to the Democrats), he could probably sail to re-election in 2012. Hell, if there were no chance of the Dems retaking the Congress, I wouldn't care if he were re-elected under those circumstances.

[Pig]

I'm flying!

[John]

Work with me. I trying to live in denial of what I suspect is the horrible truth that Obama is going to fuck everything up so badly that not only will the country be in a shambles again in 2012 but also the country will be left with no choice but to put the Republicans back in with no sane opposition or adult supervision.

[Barack Obama]

Hell, if there were no chance of the Dems retaking the Congress, I wouldn't care if he were re-elected under those circumstances.

Thanks, John. I'm glad you agree with my Czar strategy.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Where's our Tiger Woods thread? Where's our link to the "take your name off your phone" voicemail? I need something to distract me from all this hard proof AGW is a giant fraud. Help me believe!!!!!!!

[Enough About Palin]

"D.C. moves ahead with plan to legalize gay marriage."

What's driving this? I fully support gay marriage, but DC is overwhelmingly black and according to polling data (and what my gay friends tell me), they tend to hate gay folks. So who is it that is pushing for this and why?

[SugarFree]

Maybe Eleanor Clift is more powerful than any of us ever realized.

[JW]

C'mon, she's never bitten the still living (sort of) head off of John McLaughlin on TV, now has she?

[SugarFree]

Gah. Fucked up my Eleanors.

[JW]

Those FUCKING Eleanors.

[SugarFree]

Eleanor Clift
Eleanor Holmes-Norton
Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Rigby

What a miserable lot of joyless windbags.

[JW]

I'll give Holmes-Norton this, she did hold up her end on Colbert, when he interviewed her a few years back.

Aren't there 1 or 2 presidential and/or congressional daughters named named Eleanor?

[CoyoteBlue]

This made my head explode reading it this morning.
http://www.washingtonexaminer......70917.html

Since the Catholic Church doesn't like the Gays >>> Poor children should go to shitty schools.

[SugarFree]

Anyway, a cute line from CB's linked piece:

Over cocktails, Raymond told Wells that no federal funds should go to support private schools of a lesser quality than public schools.

And then she came out strong against Federal funding for leprechaun abortions.

[JW]

Obama says 30,000 more troops, 18 more months in Afghanistan.

Sooooo, we can expect to see many large and vocal anti-war protests in DC, almost daily, with giant puppets dealing out rightious social justice with their paper mache fists , right? RIGHT?

[T]

Only if the puppetistas don't get injured. Then they'll be too busy defrauding the health care system,.

[Pig]

I'm sad that I'm flying.

[R C Dean]

I'm convinced the Obama strategy is this:

(1) Send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to inoculate himself against charge he didn't do enough to win.

(2) Signal our enemies that they just need to lay low long enough for him to declare victory in time for the 2012 elections.

(3) Try to avoid an embarrassing helicopters-on-the-roof of the embassy moment when we leave Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2013.

[Warty]

OK, cricket fighting sounds fucking sweet.

[P Brooks]

House banking committee set to pass bill that would "give the government the right to dismantle financial firms that pose a risk to the economy, even if they are healthy."

Does this include the Federal Resrve?

[Mad Max]

No, silly, the Federal Reserve isn't healthy.

[P Brooks]

Rules?

There's no rules in cricket fights!!

[JW]

Rule #1: No one talks about cricket fights.

[MacGhil]

What's one more bailout among friends?

FTC to Examine Possible Support of News Organizations

[mccleary]

This is neither a military nor geopolitical strategy. It is a re-election strategy.

If Obama withdrew troops, he would have given the Republicans a club to beat him with (he's soft, an appeaser, a flip-flopper on Af, etc.), which would potentially hurt him among the independents he must win. If he really thought this was the good war, the necessary war and he went all in with the 500k troops you might need to really make a difference in Afghanistan, the left would have his hide.

His best political move is ramp up just enough to be nobody's softie, but pull out in time to pose a war-ending hero to the left by 2011.

I hate it. But if your only true agenda item is re-election, it seems smart.

[Nick]

How come we can't comment on Brickbats any more? You guys need a guru of common sense.

OK, I'll do it.