I think soon the president will be entering the murky zone in Afghanistan that George W. Bush went through in 2006 in Iraq. A once seemingly successful war was stalled. The public had turned against the effort. Political opponents who once voiced “let me at ‘em” enthusiasm about the war had long ago bailed. “Wise men” frowned, cleared their throat and declared Iraq lost in op-ed opinions. The base was jittery and saw the war was losing Republicans influence and power. And then Bush did the lonely and good thing by placing his all with Petraeus, the surge, and keeping our commitment to those brave Iraqis who had risked their lives for the common goal of consensual government.

Obama now finds himself with those same bad and worse choices. The good war he once championed as a candidate on the stump has turned bad among his supporters. No one is talking about finally having our eye back on the ball. He has so polarized conservatives that it is apparently hard for him to reach out to them for support on the war, though on the war they are not the vocal opponents that the Left proved to be with Bush. Pundits now talk of the preferable “more rubble/less trouble” punitive route of bombs, Predators, and incursions rather than the messy, unpopular, 8-year effort at saving Afghanistan from al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Islamic medievalism in order to prevent a repeat of 9/11. Most agree that surging in Afghanistan, as was true in Iraq, could spike casualties rather than reduce them for several months to come. Moveon.org could also take out another New York Times-subsidized ad about about the purported perfidy of General McChrystal, who might still be grilled on Capitol Hill with sneers that his testimony requires a suspension of disbelief. And so on. It is a lot harder to be alone in the White House to make the tough, lonely decision than it is to caricature it without the responsibility of governance.