The problem with President Obama and war in general is that his liberal sensibility is not comfortable with combat. Compare Mr. Obama to Dick Cheney, perhaps the most hawkish politician in the country.
So we can't leave, but we can't wage war either. The Obama Left can tolerate, barely, the appearance of waging war if that's what it takes to prevent rank-and-file Democrats from revolting. But they have no interest in defeating anti-American Muslims (who, after all, have a point, right?) or in pursuing American interests for their own sake.
Neither Bill O'Reilly nor Dick Cheney (count 'em, five deferments) have any record of military service, and to my knowledge, neither does McCarthy. So their knowledge of "war" and "combat" is somewhat limited. But let's be clear, we're not arguing about "waging war." We're arguing about sending other people to wage war, which takes rather less resolve. Some people seem unable to tell the difference.
I also think that the American servicemen and women deployed in Afghanistan, and those who are recovering at places like Walter Reed would be surprised to learn that they are not actually fighting a war, as McCarthy seems to say above.
-- A. Serwer
