Dress it up all you want — and I’m sure plenty of sharpies are just waiting to do it with all sorts of plausible-sounding rationalizations — but if President Obama is about to go on the air tonight to promise that the war in Afghanistan will end in three years, as CNN is now reporting, that is essentially a signal to our enemies in South Asia that they’re going to win. Just wait it out a little longer, and we promise to surrender the field to you, the president will be saying.

Peace in our time, more or less.

In a related item, I hear that there’s a lot of interest among the big-time players in inviting Obama on the professional poker circuit. A lot of interest.