Obama's Surprise Trip To Afghanistan

By Douglas V. Gibbs

President Obama arrived in Afghanistan after dusk for a surprise visit, and his first, with the troops in that region. The President's speech was strong, and proclaimed "America doesn't quit."

I agreed with most of his speech, and found it refreshing, until I began to consider what he has said in the past.

Obama believed America should quit when he called for America's withdraw during his presidential campaign. He said in 2007 that there is "no military solution," and later indicated that the surge was not working, and would not work.

His speech in Afghanistan, in other words, was a brazen lie. He is a chameleon, and for the troops he changed his colors a little so that he could seem more like Bush.

Obama was trying to act like he was the greatest military supporter who ever lived, when he and his fellow leftists spent a decade calling our troops Nazis, cold blooded killers, and made declarations that the war was lost. In Afghanistan, Obama was strutting around like an award winning rooster, wishing he was loved by the military like Bush was, after spending an entire presidential campaign demonizing the military and their efforts.

I found it interesting he chose to arrive after dusk, too. It sent the message that Afghanistan, in Obama's opinion, is so unstable that Obama was unable to show up safely during the sunlight.

Like I said, I agreed with much of what Obama said in his speech, to be frank, but it means nothing if he has spent his entire political career prior to his trip to Afghanistan saying the opposite.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION ON THE WAY FORWARD IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN - Sweetness and Light