Will the Afghanistan War be the Likely Cause of a Primary Challenge to Obama?

[unhappycamper]

Will the Afghanistan War be the Likely Cause of a Primary Challenge to Obama?
submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 11/25/2010 - 4:06am.
ROBERT NAIMAN FOR BUZZFLASH/TRUTHOUT

Press reports have suggested that Administration officials are trying to make Democratic voters forget that the Administration promised to start drawing down troops from Afghanistan in July 2011 by "pivoting" to the "aspirational goal" that "most" U.S. "combat troops" will be withdrawn by 2014. The Administration still says it will withdraw some troops in July 2011, but press reports suggest that the Administration may try to make this a "symbolic" withdrawal, not the "serious drawdown" (as Speaker Pelosi put it) involving "a whole lot of people" (as Vice-President Biden put it) that Democrats were led to expect.

But if these press reports about Administration strategy are correct, Administration political strategists may have another think coming. Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg suggests that continued escalation of the war in Afghanistan would be likely to draw a primary challenge, the Christian Science Monitor reports:

As Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg was leaving a Monitor breakfast last week, he was asked about the possibility that President Obama might face a Democratic primary challenge in 2012.

Mr. Greenberg's two-word answer: "Watch Afghanistan."

As the Monitor notes, a recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 62 percent of Democrats say US troops should not be in Afghanistan.



unhappycamper comment: If you don't want to see this scenario play out, tell President Obama to keep his promise for a "serious drawdown" of troops in 2011: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1439/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5200