AND NOW THE SEQUEL, COMING SOON – AT 8:19 A.M. ET:  Now that McChrystal is gone, politicans and pundits are urging the president to take some further action to give us at least a fighting chance in Afghanistan.  Republican Rep. Peter King of New York, who has been a stalwart in the war on terror, has some solid ideas:

Vice President Biden must not be allowed to continue contradicting Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and undercut our military commanders in Afghanistan by saying that large numbers of troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan next summer.

Karl Eikenberry, our ambassador to Afghanistan, must not be allowed to publicly criticize Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose support is essential to our success.

The bottom line is that this administration has been divided and dysfunctional in implementing its Afghanistan policy. We cannot succeed unless the Afghans and Pakistanis are convinced that we are committed to the mission and that we will not abandon the battlefield by an arbitrary date.

The repeated assurances from McChrystal, Gates and Clinton that there would be only a small drawdown of American troops in July 2011 has been repeatedly undercut by Biden's pronouncements that a "whole lot" of troops will be pulled out. No wonder the Afghans and Pakistanis are hedging their bets and local officials and tribal leaders are reluctant to sign on with us.

COMMENT:  In other words, Mr. President, show as much concern for the chaos in your administration as you did over critical comments McChrystal and his aides made in a magazine article.  Our mission in Afghanistan is not going well.  And yet, Americans understand that it must succeed.  Your own party once described Afghanistan as the "good war," yet the left wing of your party wants to shut it down with no victory.

Are you president of "all the people," or are you president only of the left?  We'll soon find out.

June 24, 2010