Ira Stoll on Mitt Romney's Ambiguous Plan for Afghanistan
A generous interpretation of the conflicting plans for Afghanistan that came out of the Republican National Convention is that the Republicans are a big-tent party that is confident enough to allow differing opinions on important questions. Another generous interpretation would be that Mitt Romney wants to keep the enemy confused about his plans. A more cynical interpretation, writes Ira Stoll, would be that the Romney campaign is intentionally keeping American voters confused about his plans. He's trying to win the votes of Afghanistan hawks and Afghanistan doves at the same time, while deferring until after the election the question about what actually to do about the war, a decision that is bound to displease either the hawks or the doves.