From Monday night’s Fox News All-Stars.
On how the killing of Osama bin Laden may affect President Obama’s policy in Afghanistan:
This is an opportunity, given what it does for the president politically and perhaps [by] striking a blow against al-Qaeda on the ground, to accelerate the withdrawal [from Afghanistan] and get out of the wars and get reelected.
He can make an argument — and I think he will — that this success shows how we’re winning and we can reduce our footprint. It’s a very stark choice — use it to accelerate and to increase the pressure on our enemies, or use it as an excuse — or at least an explanation — for withdrawal. I think the temptation to choose withdrawal is very, very high. …
The president is the one who takes responsibility ultimately and will suffer or gain politically. He is most at risk here [politically]. I think he has a chance [to withdraw] if he wants. He originally intended a withdrawal and reduction by announcing the July date in Afghanistan. Here is his chance to do exactly that and to say: I am the man who got us out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
On whether Obama’s success in killing bin Laden will help him domestically:
I’m intrigued by [Jay] Carney’s logic. He says: Because the president killed bin Laden, we should follow him into granting amnesty for illegal aliens. I would nominate it as the non-sequitur of the decade. But clearly his idea is this: This demonstrated leadership, it undid the narrative about indecisiveness – although I think if you look objectively at what he’s done in foreign affairs in Iran, in Syria, in Libya, with the Russian reset, it is a record of dithering.
On the other hand, that all pales in significance in the popular imagination because nobody remembers where they were when the bombs began to fall on Libya. Everybody remembers where he was when he heard about bin Laden’s death. So it has a sort of emotional salience. And [thus] does address the character issue.
You heard how Carney tried to flip the negative into a positive: He [Obama] looks as if he’s indecisive, [says Carney]. He looks as if he’s dithering. But actually he’s looking so deep, and long, into the strategic future, that what appears as dithering is … real strategic depth and leadership. It reminds me of that phrase of a fanatical follower of Trotsky, who said: Trotsky was such a visionary that not one of his prophecies has yet come true.