AFGHAN SCORECARD - AT 10:26 A.M. ET:  Associated Press reports what it claims are the views of top administration officials on Afghanistan. The president has a divided government, flashing a message of uncertainty to ally and enemy alike:

President Barack Obama is confronting a split among his closest advisers on Afghanistan, reflecting divisions in his own party over whether to send in thousands more U.S. troops and complicating his efforts to adopt a war policy he can sell to a public grown weary of the 8-year-old conflict.

The scorecard:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and special Afghan and Pakistan envoy Richard Holbrooke appeared to be leaning toward supporting a troop increase, the official said.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Gen. James Jones, Obama's national security adviser, appeared to be less supportive, the official said. Vice President Joe Biden, who attended the meeting, has been reluctant to support a troop increase, favoring a strategy that directly targets al-Qaida fighters who are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

And...

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both support McChrystal's strategy, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on the fence, the spokesman said.

The secretary of defense is on the fence?  Not encouraging, is it?

COMMENT:  With this kind of division, the pressure on the president increases.  But this is what presidents are for.  Yes, of course, the Constitution does provide for the president to fly to Copenhagen to try to get the Olympics for Chicago.  But it also provides for the president to be commander-in-chief.  This president hasn't looked too comfortable in that latter role, and the decisions facing him should have been made weeks ago.

How he handles Afghanistan and Iran in the months ahead may well define the foreign-policy legacy of this administration.  His approach to both has so far been to delay, and ask for time outs.  That's not the way the Super Bowl is won, and this is the real Super Bowl.

October 1, 2009