It was probably inevitable that the American left would turn sharply against the war in Afghanistan the moment it was politically opportune. Still, the speed with which it has done so has been breathtaking.
Time was when the received bipartisan and trans-Atlantic wisdom about Afghanistan was that it was the necessary war, the good war, the no-choice-but-to-fight and can't-afford-to-lose war, and that not least of everything that made the invasion and occupation of Iraq such arrant folly was that it distracted us from "finishing the job" in the place where the attacks of 9/11 were conceived and planned.
I've been calling this change for years. When the only war we have is Afghanistan, the Left will protest the only war they have to protest, no matter what they need to do to justify their switch.
This development, on the bright side, is probably the best confirmation of all that we've essentially won in Iraq. Being pro-war on Afghanistan was always about pretending to be willing to defend our nation despite opposing the Iraq War. Now, what's the point of getting too worked up over Iraq when our casualties are dropping and Iraq is safer and more optimistic about their future?
And when our combat brigades are on way out, anyway, having held off the enemy onslaughts that tried to trigger civil war in Iraq, the Left doesn't get the same harangue for the buck. Hand puppets aren't cheap, ya know.
President Obama will have far more support for the war in Iraq from the conservative side of the aisle than the Left. Many liberals supported President Clinton's Balkan and Middle East adventures. We shall see how they hold up to being hammered from the Left for being pro-war.
The Buchanan Right will surely oppose the fight in Afghanistan. They were not quite muted during the Bush presidency and will see no need to hold back criticism now. But they will be marginalized by our media as they always have been.
The key will be how our Left protests the Afghanistan War, how the press covers the war (and this isn't encouraging) and protests, and how Democrats and liberals who backed President Obama respond to both.
Oh, and of course how President Obama reacts to all of this. He must command and not lead a late night college bull session on the course of the war. One thing I was always frustrated about in President Bush was his failure to hammer the need to fight all the time. He made better decisions than conventional wisdom credits him--enough to win in Iraq and more--but his oratory was only occasionally adequate. President Obama, at least, should have the oratory down.
