Andrew Sullivan on President Obama rejecting the war options for
Afghanistan:

"What strikes me about this is the enormous self-confidence this
reveals. Here is a young president, prepared to allow himself to be
portrayed as 'weak' or 'dithering' in the slow and meticulous arrival
at public policy. He is trusting the reality to help expose what we
need to do. He is allowing the debate -- however messy and confusing
and emotional -- to take its time and reveal the real choices in front
of us. This is politically risky, of course. Those who treat politics
as a contact-sport, whose insistence is on the 'game' of who wins
which news cycle, or who can spin each moment in a political storm as
a harbinger of whatever, will pounce and shriek and try to bounce the
president into a decision. And those who believe that what matters in
war is charging ahead regardless at all times will also grandstand
against the president's insistence on prudence."