GO COMPLAIN TO OUR REPUBLICAN OVERLORDS

USA Today reports:

Public support for President Obama's Afghanistan war policy has plummeted amid a rising U.S. death toll and the unauthorized release of classified military documents, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows.

Support for Obama's management of the war fell to 36%, down from 48% in a February poll. Now, a record 43% also say it was a mistake to go to war there after the terrorist attacks in 2001....

I'm not absolving the president of blame for the quagmire we're in, but if you actually want the policy to change, you're going have to flip some Republicans, or at least some Blue Dogs. I know it's unimaginable, but do you really think the president would stick with the present policy if he were being attacked by newly Paul-itized Republicans with the same ferocity they use to attack him on everything else? If they were ginning up mass hate for "Democrat wars" and holding up funding allocations for the war until spending cuts could be found elsewhere, do you think he wouldn't be desperately bargaining away his commitment to the present course?

I'm not presenting a realistic scenario, obviously; simplemided jingoism and bellicosity are so ingrained in the wingnut soul that the wingers can't even imagine tapping into a traditional strain of Republican isolationism, even though it would give them an exciting new way to bash their Democratic enemies.

Obama believes in what he's doing, but he also must know that he's going to be attacked only if he "goes wobbly." That's why the status quo is still the safest course for him, no matter how negative public opinion turns. Flip McConnell and Boehner on this (not to mention Beck and Palin) and the troops really might start coming home.