Obama Losing Bipartisan Support for Afghanistan

Written by Jeb Golinkin on Tuesday September 1, 2009

That the doves on the left are growing tired of the costly war in Afghanistan should not surprise anyone. But now, George Will’s change of heart on Afghanistan indicates that support on the right, particularly amongst realists like Mr. Will, may not be as reliable as the administration may believe.

In today’s Washington Post, George Will calls for the United States to dramatically change its policy in Afghanistan. In effect, Will calls for a pull out:

[F]orces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.

That the doves on the left are growing tired of the costly war in Afghanistan should not surprise anyone. The Obama administration may not be thrilled by this development, but they likely expected the doves to begin to grumble as the war continues to grow more and more costly. The doves do not threaten the administration’s Afghanistan policy. However to lose Mr. Will’s support will deeply trouble many administration officials not only because Mr. Will remains one of, if not the most recognized newspaper columnist in America (conservative or Democrat) but also because Mr. Will’s defection indicates that support on the right, particularly amongst realists like Mr. Will (and myself) may not be as reliable as the administration may have originally believed.

President Obama’s handling of the war effort in Afghanistan is one of the few policies where this president has received anything resembling true bipartisan support. President Obama is a talented politician with a unique ability to appeal directly to the American people, but his administration can hardly afford to lose the support of the realist right at a time when it is fighting heated partisan wars on gargantuan issues like healthcare. Anything resembling serious opposition to the war effort from moderate Republicans and Democrats alike would require a PR blitz that would quickly suck up much of the administration’s remaining political capital. The White House knows this, and you can expect them to mount a PR blitz in the coming days aimed at countering Mr. Will’s arguments, and in doing so holding together a portion of the right’s suddenly fragile war support.