Obama's Afghan Policy is the Best of Poor Choices

Photo Courtesy of the White House

After a few days investigating what went into President Barack Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, I have come to the conclusion he chose the best policy option open to him.

The previous administration started the war in Afghanistan, of course, in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks. The stated reason for the invasion was to hunt down Osama bin-Laden and al-Qaeda, but the U.S. military let the terror network leader slip away after cornering him at Tora Bora late in 2001.

I've not been able to locate any persuasive explanation for that stupendous failure. It is one of the greatest tactical errors in modern military history, frankly.

Meanwhile, over the past eight years, the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan has morphed into a dubious nation-building exercise and, increasingly, an attempt to curtail the return of the native Afghan Taliban movement, which held power when the Bush administration invaded.

To my mind, there is no chance for the U.S. to "win" this war. But, much as happened in Vietnam, there is a good chance of "losing" it. Obama clearly feels painted in a corner by the circumstances he inherited.

Those attacking him now include many who naively believe everything any President does is political. No President is that cynical. Obama is Commander-in-Chief. He's received more in-depth briefings about this conflict than any predecessor about any inherited war over his first 12 months in office.

He wants a troop surge, and he wants it faster than the military felt it could deliver it. Then he wants a timed draw-down of troops faster than anyone believes will be possible.

Finally, he says that the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan will determine the actual timetable for withdrawal.

You could find aspects of this plan to disagree with, whatever your politics. But if you take the time to study what he is trying to do, and balance all known factors, you may come to the same conclusion as I have:

Obama is doing the right thing.

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Blogging for B&N

I've posted to various blogs over the years. Recently, Barnes & Noble asked me to write a post about the move from physical to digital books.

Here is the result.

The best part about blogging is when you get comments. In that spirit, I want to thank those who comment at this blog. This is, of course, a relatively obscure blog, with somewhere around 50-100 visitors a day.

B&N, by contrast, is obviously a major platform, and therefore dozens of people posted comments behind my piece there.

Please visit the link, and if you so choose, add a comment!

Thanks.

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If Loneliness is Contagious, So is Hope

Wow, I've let almost an entire workweek get away from me without posting here -- my bad.

I have spent a bunch of that week downtown, attending a conference and meeting with more promising media startups.

Although this is the worst of times to be a professional journalist (we're all out of work), it's a fascinating time from the perspective of changing communication habits.

Take blogs. A decade ago, hardly anyone was blogging.

Today, millions of people blog. It's become a major way of connecting with one another in an otherwise fragmenting world.

According to a report in the Washington Post recently, loneliness is contagious.

That caught my eye, because I've often noticed the effects, some of them quite subtle, people's emotional states have on each other. The studies in the report covered by the Post indicate that one person's loneliness can be transmitted to others via a variety of pathways.

At the core of our humanity is our capacity for empathy. Just sensing the deep loneliness another feels triggers a response inside many of us. We can so easily imagine feeling the same way, and sometimes, of course, we do.

Isolation, alienation, loneliness -- these are major social diseases of modern society. To address them, there is another tool within our grasp and that is hopefulness, optimism.

I observe that expressing one's essential hopefulness if contagious as well. Some may dismiss you as lacking the appropriate degree of cynical realism about our actual condition if you act hopeful, but others will thank you for making their day a little brighter.

With that in mind, I'll try to end this post, on a cold winter's day, with few tangible amenities available to view, on a hopeful note. Things may get worse, it's true; yet they may get better.

I'm opting for the latter view...

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