I voted for a President that supported the war in Afghanistan and opposed the war in Iraq

[usregimechange]

Because the war in Iraq had no rational basis. I know what I voted for and frankly most of the rest of you are upset not because of Obama's decision but because your expectations were not realistic.

Obama made the pacifists mad by sending an additional 30k troops and the militarists mad by setting a timetable for withdrawal. On this issue I disagree with extreme forms of both. In working with human systems I know full well that a balanced position between hard ass and supportive is often the most effective framework for strategy.

I support his decision.

[Mojambo]

1. You also voted for a president that opposed warrantless wiretapping.

He threw that position out pretty quick.

Not totally unreasonable to hope that he might do the same on Afghanistan.

[leftstreet]

3. ...and health insurance mandates

[usregimechange]

4. Agreed, my comments were specific to one of his decisions

[Avalux]

2. Obama never claimed to be a pacifist and never said he's pull out of Afghanistan.

Iraq, yes, but he said during the campaign he'd send 2 more brigades into Afghanistan and get the job done.

People who voted for him should not be surprised. I'm not happy about it but am going to give Obama a chance; I support him as well.

[usregimechange]

5. So your the other DUer that supports his decision. We finally meet!

:hi:

[joecool65]

7. Not everyone on here are leftbaggers

Number three right here!

[aquart]

17. "Leftbaggers"?

As in, Democrats left holding the bag while right wing policies are vigorously pursued?

[usregimechange]

20. Not sure what that meant either...

[AndrewP]

26. Cool. I'm a leftbagger I guess.

Keep it classy San Diego

[Starry Messenger]

19. Fair warning:

If leftbagger starts to gain traction I'm going to start using dittocrat. :hi:

[laughingliberal]

44. I like that. I mean if we're going to have to start labeling each other, that will do nicely nt

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

27. I've got a left bag for ya

right here.

Why aren't you in the service again, patriot?

[Avalux]

10. Pleased to meet you!

There's probably a few more out there, we don't yell as loud as the others. ;-)

:hi:

[billh58]

12. Count me in!

[Windy]

13. I support it too. Because I understand the complexity of the situation and don't react on emotion.

The unstable situation in Afghanistan that migrated into nuclear armed Pakistan and destablized that country because of the Bush Administration's ineptness is what forced Obama's hand.

We have an adult in charge now. He made the decision he had to make given the geopolitical situation and national security intrests. And those interests are tied to India... tightly. I'm not going to get into it in this post because I have in other posts here, but just take away the emotion, stop and think about it for a minute.

And yes, I served in the military and vehemently opposed the Iraq war.

[rtassi]

22. To support war, and then to quote Gandhi in your sig line ... is as Spock would say

Not Logical!

[Avalux]

24. So black and white - tsk tsk

Who supports war, wants war, but those among us who care nothing for humanity? Of course I don't support war, but I did vote for Obama and I'm not willing to throw him under the bus yet. He inherited two horrible wars and must figure out a way forward.

[usregimechange]

28. Civil disobedience with Al Qaeda? How well would that work?

[wuushew]

6. Your zeal will dampen with each casket they bring back to Dover

I figure it will take 2-3 bodies a day to reach Iraq level disgust.

[usregimechange]

9. It is not just about war casualties, it is about the reason for the war

and there were quite a few body bags in NYC, they matter too.

[Windy]

14. Its not even that...its the danger that the unstable situation that the US created that has become

a national securit issue for the WORLD!

[frylock]

34. nice rudy guliani moment there..

body bags in nyc, huh. super fucking profound. now we got body bags coming outta the middle east. quite a few, actually.

[cbdo2007]

37. Hmmmm....Rudy Guliani name calling....I think that's #4 on the list of

what to say when you don't really have a smart argument against us Obama supporters.

[frylock]

45. no, resorting to invoking 9/11 to support your argument for escalation is a perfect example however

we have another idiot here tonite threatening people with the specter of american women wearing burkas. this place is an absolute joke anymore.

[choie]

35. As a New Yorker, I say BULLSHIT!

those body bags were not caused by Afghanis. They were (supposedly) caused by 19 hijackers, most of whom were from Saudi Arabia. Cut the crap, and stop using a tragedy that occurred to over 2,000 New Yorkers to defend Bush's (and now Obama's) wars.

[frylock]

46. really unbelievable reading this shit here..

i'm speechless.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. A policy that pleases no one can't be all bad.

He certainly can not be blamed for catering to anyone when no one is happy about it.

[usregimechange]

11. I don't think "happy" is accurate but I know "anyone" is not

[Ozymanithrax]

16. You would think that Republicans would be proud as a turd on a toadstool about the war

But they are contorting themselves into pretzels to oppose it.

It is actually fun to watch them.

[cbdo2007]

38. That's what lets me know this is the right decision....neither the hard core right

or the hard core left are happy about it. Could this be the perfect compromise?

[EFerrari]

15. It's not extremism to be against sending troops into a badly designed lost cause.

That would be common sense.

It's also not extremism to object to being lied to by your president. We don't seek global domination? Really? We aren't after their resources? Really? We have authority because we stand up for human dignity? Oh, really? I hope he fired that speech writer because whoever it was is an idiot who should be writing for the other side.

And I had no expectations of Obama. I was happy he was elected and happy the Democrats won. Beyond that, no expectations.

[usregimechange]

18. The relative effectiveness of troops in this region at this time is way above my pay grade

Obama is reasonable and reflected on the issue for weeks standing on the shoulders of giants.

I like the graphic at the bottom of your post...

[EFerrari]

39. I hope you don't mean the giant McCrystal that tried to cover up Tillman's death

or the giant Gates that helped covered up Bush's war crimes or the giant aka Betrayus that was implicated in illegal arms sales in Iraq. I hope you don't mean Holbrooke, another Bush apologist or Clinton who just presided over the selling of Honduras with a little help from her adviser Negroponte and her old media consultant Lanny Davis.

I hope you mean Joe Biden. lol

[stray cat]

21. Sounds like the candidate I voted for as well. I'm not sure how to salvage Afghanistan if possible

but I know who I voted for and I was an educated and informed voter. I really thought issues were clarified in the campaign but I guess some people missed what candidates said.

[still_one]

23. Sorry, but that was when Afghanistan had bin laden and AQ there. It is no longer relevent

[usregimechange]

25. It just has a few of them and a group that assisted them that shares their crazy religious worldview

[R. P. McMurphy]

29. I'm with you.

I believe the President is handling this situation very well.

[budkin]

30. The war in Afghanistan has no rational basis... watch the recent Michael Moore video

[usregimechange]

33. Sorry, not much trust for the intellectual strength of Michael Moore

[liberalmuse]

31. Wow, I have a hard time believing...

that some of the respondents here are not conservatives. I've never, ever seen such bashing of a new President on a liberal forum as I have on DU these past several months. I can't tell the difference between the tea baggers and the anti-Obama left these days. I'm sick to death of it. We had one longtime poster who was finally banned and was bragging on a conservative forum about how he fooled us here at DU. How many more? It's one thing to disagree with some policies, but there are certain people here who continually slam Obama, and have done so since the beginning. No wonder the left is fucked.

[Laelth]

32. So did I.

One of those policy decisions was sound, I thought. The other was not, but I voted for him anyway.

The fact that he won doesn't make a bad idea good. It's still bad.

:dem:

-Laelth

[frylock]

36. i voted for giant douche..

[Selatius]

40. I voted for Obama because McCain was worse. Beyond that, I hold little expectation from Obama.

Voting for the lesser of two evils in a two-party monopoly quickly demotivates, in my opinion. It might be one reason why the US historically boasted some of the lowest voter turn-out rates in the industrialized world.

[bigtree]

41. this administration better make our expectations real

and watch who you're calling 'pacifist'. You don't have to be pacifist to oppose 'dumb wars'.

[Odin2005]

42. K&R

[laughingliberal]

43. I voted for a President who said the American people should be able to buy into a public option like

the one members of Congress have.

[lamp_shade]

47. Big rec and morning kick.