ONOZ.
Foreign Affairs editor James Hoge on why [McChrystal] must be fired—and how Obama is in danger of becoming a wuss.
Not a wuss! At first I thought this choice of words came from the Daily Beast editors, no strangers to crass and reductionist language. For most of the column, Hoge himself takes the long high road, avoiding any unpleasant euphemisms along the way toward his conclusion that President Obama must fire General Stanley McChrystal as punishment for the intolerable crime of voicing his disagreement with the Commander-in-Chief. Yet for all his care, Hoge’s argument still boils down to: Obama’s dick is in danger.
If Obama is to have any chance of succeeding in winding down the U.S. military engagement with some semblance of accomplishment and honor, he must end the policy divisions within his administration and the insubordination of military leadership on the ground. These efforts must start with a decisive heave-ho of General McChrystal. Anything less will reinforce the emerging calculation that Obama is a wuss.
Shorter: McChrystal laughed at Obama’s dick; he must lose his head.
FWIW, I don’t care if McChrystal goes or stays or if his criticism of Obama’s strategy is warranted or ill-founded; we shouldn’t be in Afghanistan, anyway, neither man has a strategy that won’t waste Afghan and American lives, and the reality is that American troops will be deployed overseas for years to come, no matter how much Hoge thinks the U.S. will be “winding down.”
Before we can get that far, of course, we have to put our balls on the table.
A lack of confidence in Obama at home and abroad compounds the difficulties that are mounting in Afghanistan. The full complement of 30,000 extra troops will be operational by September. They have to show successes on the battlefield before the December review ordered by the president. Currently, the tide is running out. Without improved prospects, the Obama team risks a collapse of public and congressional support and of continuing assistance from coalition partners.
If we don’t have faith in Obama’s leadership, we can’t win! If the troops don’t win battles, they’ll compromise Obama’s policy agendas! He’ll lose face in Washington! Capitol Hill Republicans will pants him and mock his penis! Then the country will be overrun by teabaggers in codpieces!
I would suggest that we have been down this arrogant road before — in very recent memory, in fact! — but Hoge is the editor of Foreign Affairs, so surely he needs no reminding. Or is, at the worst, impervious to it.
