Life or Death Non-Decisions

President Obama responds to a question from CBS about the Afghan policy leaks:

“I think I am angrier than Bob Gates about it, partly because we have these deliberations in the Situation Room for a reason – because we are making decisions that are life-and-death, that affect how our troops will be able to operate in a theater of war. For people to be releasing information during the course of deliberation — where we haven’t made final decisions yet — I think is not appropriate.”

In the same breath as Obama pats himself on the back for making the tough decisions required of a wartime president, he simultaneously concedes that no, he hasn’t actually made any “life-and-death” decisions on Afghanistan over the last four months. Meanwhile, the wires are reporting once again that the president is “very close” to making an actual decision — i.e., a decision is “just weeks away.” A very generous interpretation of the phrase “very close” indeed. It’s like how President Bush was “very close” to making a decision about sending federal assistance to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and true to his word just a few weeks later there were FEMA trailers and everything. Update: Gary Schmitt hits the above and adds: