WELL, WHAT DO YOU KNOW? - AT 7:45 A.M. ET:  Even in Washington, some depend, as Tennessee Williams put it, on the kindness of strangers.  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — As President Obama prepares to decide whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the political climate appears increasingly challenging for him, leaving him in the awkward position of relying on the Republican Party, and not his own, for support.

The simple political narrative of the Afghanistan war — that this was the good war, in which the United States would hunt down the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks — has faded over time, with popular support ebbing, American casualties rising and confidence in the Afghan government declining. In addition, Afghanistan’s disputed election, and the attendant fraud charges that have been lodged against President Hamid Karzai, are contributing further to the erosion of public support.

COMMENT:  The real story here isn't policy in Afghanistan, it's the behavior of the Democratic Party.  We can debate policy in Afghanistan, and thoughtful people can even advocate pulling out or setting a deadline for withdrawal.

But there is a wing of the Democratic Party, centered in the California delegation to the House, that is against virtually everything we do overseas.  Some of its members, like Diane Watson and Barbara Lee, are followers of Fidel Castro. 

That wing was effectively shown the door by Harry Truman in 1948, and they went on to back Henry Wallace, who ran for president on the Progressive ticket.  This crowd filtered back into the party during the sixties and has become disturbingly powerful. 

Yes, if the president wants to expand our efforts in Afghanistan, or indeed do anything else to enlarge our defense capacity, he may well have to depend on the Republican Party for help.  What a comment on the party of Roosevelt, Truman, and Jack Kennedy.

September 3, 2009