SHANGHAI, China – President Barack Obama made no effort to conceal his irritation when his press corps used the first question of his maiden Far East trip to ask what was taking him so long on Afghanistan.
Jennifer Loven of The Associated Press had asked: “Can you explain to people watching and criticizing your deliberations what piece of information you're still lacking to make that call.”
“With respect to Afghanistan, Jennifer,” the president scolded, “I don't think this is a matter of some datum of information that I'm waiting on. … Critics of the process … tend not to be folks who … are directly involved in what's happening in Afghanistan. Those who are, recognize the gravity of the situation and recognize the importance of us getting this right.”
The cool president’s heated response reflected second-guessing from the press and Pentagon about a process that has spanned eight formal meetings with his war cabinet, totaling about 20 hours.
The White House has been deliberately portraying the process as thorough, emphasizing the opposing views the president has considered, as a way of positing a contrast with President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
But former Vice President Dick Cheney has accused the president of “dithering,” and the military brass has used leaks to push for a quick decision, with the original hope that additional troops would be in place well before the traditional spring fighting season.
In a tough column in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times headlined “Obama must rethink rethinking Afghanistan,” Doyle McManus said the deliberations were “starting to look like dangerous indecision”: “In George W. Bush, we had a president who shot first and asked questions later. In Barack Obama, we have a president who asks the right questions but hesitates to pull the trigger.”
While foreign trips often provide presidents with a respite from a pressing issue, Afghanistan has shadowed Obama during his four-country swing. He has continued to work on his plan on the road. And in their few opportunities to ask Obama a question, U.S. reporters have pressed the president on Afghanistan rather than inquiring about Asian alliances.
Obama will likely have one more war council when he returns to Washington later this week, even though Wednesday’s session had been billed as the last one. The president is said to have most of the information he needs, but is working through some details.
Aides have also begun to express open irritation at the second-guessing. - Politico Story
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