THOMPSON BLASTS OBAMA - AT 7:12 P.M. ET:  Former Senator Fred Thompson, sounding very much like a presidential candidate for 2012, has issued the most articulate blast at Obama's Afghanistan policy that I've seen so far.

During the 2008 campaign, Thompson ran for the Republican nomination, but didn't seem to have the fire we'd seen in the man previously.  His campaign fell flat.  This statement is clearly crafted to draw attention and to give him national-security credentials:

Former Sen. Fred Thompson today intensified his party's criticism of President Obama's long deliberation over policy in Afghanistan, announcing that Obama's delay signals that "the war has been lost" and that nothing the president now does will "make any difference."

"It really doesn't matter how President Obama divides the Afghan baby, how he splits the difference between McChrystal and Biden. Because the war has been lost," Thompson said on his radio show today. "I say this because of one sad and simple fact. The president does not have the will and determination to do what's necessary to win it. His heart's not in it, and never has been. The Taliban knows it. Al Qaeda knows it. Our allies know it. And the American people know it.

"Our enemies are now emboldened and our friends are discouraged. We cannot prevail if the American people are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary for an extended effort. The case has not been made to them to justify this effort. The case can only be made by the president. This president is unable or unwilling to make that case," Thompson said.

Thompson's words seem to lay the groundwork for Republican opposition to further American engagement in Afghanistan, cast here as halfhearted.

"Take your time, Mr. President," Thompson said. "Unless you have a total change of heart and mind, it really doesn't make any difference."

COMMENT:  That is very tough stuff, directed at a sitting president.  Frankly, it's about time.  I love this part:  "The president does not have the will and determination to do what's necessary to win it."  In that sentence Thompson puts into words what many people feel, but cannot express.  That is one mark of a successful candidate.

I don't agree that Thompson is necessarily laying the groundwork for GOP opposition to further American engagement in Afghanistan.  He is more likely laying the groundwork for a Republican policy that will say, "Mr. President, either do it right or get out."  And the party will then demand that the president do it right. 

We need more statements like from the Republicans on foreign policy.  The party must, as a political strategy, take advantage of Obama's growing weakness.  Of course, it must be careful in its language and prescriptions.  But the timing is right for Thompson-like wording.

November 19, 2009