Reply #42: I have to agree. I decided to support Obama after that debate*

[anigbrowl]

(* I'm not 100% certain which debate the OP refers to, but I'm thinking of the Democratic primary debate where Obama first laid out his strategy on Afghanistan and said he would follow through on it as soon as he had achieved some kind of stability in Iraq.)

Not because I particularly like war, but because I thought he was telling the hard truth about what needs to be done. I feel it's important to keep squeezing the Taliban and thier supporters along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan until such time as the Afghan government and army is sufficiently solid to provide decent internal security for ordinary people inside Afghanistan and maintain that right up to the border with Pakistan, instead of allowing that territory to function as an autonomous zone for those who seek to destabilize both countries.