QUIET!  HE IS THINKING, HE IS CONTEMPLATING - AT 7:51 P.M. ET:  And who are we, mere citizens, to question him?

The president had another Afghanistan meeting today:

WASHINGTON - President Obama met with his war council Wednesday for another strategy session after receiving a widely anticipated troop request for Afghanistan .

The session followed a meeting Tuesday with congressional leaders that at times was contentious, including a pointed exchange with Sen. John McCain over the pace of deliberations.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is seeking up to 40,000 additional troops but some of the president's war advisers along with some key Democrats are wary of escalating the war.

Obama received McChrystal's troop request from Defense Secretary Robert Gates last Thursday before he flew to Copenhagen for a failed bid to have Chicago host the 2016 Olympics.

And the White House, perhaps reflecting its general level of casualness surrounding issues of war and peace, issued this nutty statement:

Yet White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Obama wants to get the strategy right first before deciding on the troop request.

Didn't they announce a new strategy just months ago?  You get the feeling that this is about pressure from the left wing of the Democratic Party, not about strategy.

"One has to get a strategy that works, a strategy that has confidence of everyone involved, then get the resources," he said.

Huh?  Get the confidence of everyone involved?  Is the man serious?  How is it possible to have unanimity when Joe Biden wants a reduction of forces and the military wants 40,000 more troops.  Again, a lack of seriousness.

"The president is determined not to do this backwards. ... Once and for all after eight years, we're going to get this right."

Naturally, the mention of "eight years."  Blame Bush.  Blame everything on Bush.  Obama has been president for nine months, and doesn't yet have a strategy in something he called a "war of necessity."  But blame Bush.

October 7, 2009