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Morning Must Reads -- Exit strategies foreign and domestic
By: Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor
09/28/09 8:48 AM EDT
The Hill -- Despite pressure, McChrystal to hold firm on request for troops
Appearing on 60 Minutes, the allied commander in Afghanistan kept the pressure on the Obama administration for a speedy decision on his request for what is reportedly 40,000 more troops for the fight.
As I argue in my column today, the president is looking for a middle way on the war: another strategy shift that reduces the demand for reinforcements but doesn’t concede that the Obama doctrine of nation building is kaput. This is magical thinking.
One sign that the administration isn’t ready to go through with a radical change, though, is that Secretary of State Clinton and other Western diplomats agreed Friday to reaffirm their commitment to the Karazai kelptocracy in Kabul.
Writer Aaron Blake watched McChrystal’s respectful but insistent interview in which he made clear that pressure to sugar-coat his assessment, downplay troop requests, and slow down have not swayed him.
“He said time is of the essence in a war that experts say has become more difficult than Iraq, and that progress needs to be made fast.
He has been blunt about the prospect of failure, and he said he will be honest if and when that prospect becomes a reality.
‘We could do good thing in Afghanistan for the next 100 years and fail,’ he said, ‘because we’re doing a lot of good things, and it just doesn’t add up to success.’”
Financial Times -- Iran test-fires long range missile
The diplomatic kabuki with Iran continues in advance of a Thursday summit between the mullah regime and the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China.
On Friday, President Obama expressed shock over nuclear capacity he already knew Iran had. On Sunday, the Iranians touched off a rocket capable of delivering a payload into Israel or Iraq.
Western powers are ready to be appeased by an agreement on Iran’s part to keep the dialogue open and to put its nuclear program on the negotiating table. But any threat of sanctions depends on the serious support of Russia and China.
“Western diplomats said Russia has toughened its stance on Iran but they are still unsure how tough Moscow would be if the US demanded more sanctions.
‘The Russians feel Iran isn’t taking their expressions of concern seriously and that is clearly irritating Moscow a lot,’ said another European diplomat. ‘But it is still unclear how far Russia, or indeed China would go down the sanctions road.’
This diplomat said while Russia and China were worried about Iran’s ambitions, they remain concerned about the impact on their own economies of a new sanctions package.
New York Times -- Reid the Quarterback May Call on Obama to Referee
Facing an electoral storm in his home state of Nevada and tremendous pressure from the White House to produce a compromise between the warring wings of his 60-member caucus, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is looking to turn the tables on the White House.
As the Senate Finance Committee finishes its work on a bill unlikely to include the government insurance plan liberals cherish, Reid faces the task of merging the plan with an even more liberal proposal from the health committee.
We read Sunday about the White House doing heavy lobbying of individual lawmakers and pressuring Congress for legislation by Thanksgiving.
Writers David Herszenhorn and Robert Pear explain that if the Obama team wants the job, Reid is happy to let them try.
“But Mr. Obama, who laid out some basic requirements for the bill in a speech to Congress on Sept. 9, including a 10-year cost limit of $900 billion, could soon be asked to make other crucial decisions that the White House so far has left to lawmakers.
These could include setting the maximum percentage of income that Americans would be required to spend on health insurance, and the amount of penalties, if any, that should be imposed on those who fail to obtain coverage as required under the legislation.
The White House may also be asked to settle regional disputes, including disagreement over proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage, which offers extra benefits to some people 65 and older but often costs the government more than traditional Medicare.
‘None of these decisions are going to be made without significant presidential input,’ said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid.
Wall Street Journal -- $35 Billion Slated for Local Housing
With the housing market looking like its swoon might return, the Obama administration is preparing another cash infusion. This time it is $35 billion to buy and back mortgages for low-income home buyers.
Writer Deborah Solomon explains that as lawmakers put pressure on the administration to produce an “exit strategy” from their extraordinary interventions into mortgage lending, it could create some conflict on Capitol Hill.
“The move also comes as some lawmakers are advocating less spending. Already, 40 senators are pushing to allow the Treasury's $700 billion bailout fund to expire and direct any remaining funds to pay down the nation's ballooning debt.
Rep. Scott Garrett (R., N.J.) said while he hadn't seen exact details of the plan, he questioned whether the government should be aiming more money at the housing market.
‘I don't know that we can continue this pattern of having the federal government being the lender of last resort,’ he said. ‘Most people are calling on the government to lay out an exit strategy. This just gets us further into the quagmire.’”
Robert Samuelson -- The Health-Care Ego Trip
Samuelson dryly and effectively dissects the grandiosity and exaggerated since of history that has surrounded the health-care debate and how it has led to some fundamental dishonesty.
“‘My colleagues, this is our opportunity to make history,’ Chairman Max Baucus implored last week as the Senate Finance Committee opened consideration of his bill. Politicians, in their most self-important moments, see themselves as instruments of national destiny.
They yearn to be remembered as the architects and agents of great social and economic transformations. They want to be at the signing ceremony; they want a pen.
Ordinary Americans are rightly suspicious of this exercise in collective ego gratification, which has gripped Obama and many of his congressional allies. Even when the goals are worthy -- as they are here -- the temptation to exaggerate, simplify and sugarcoat often proves irresistible. Baucus's promotion of his handiwork is a case in point.”
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