Mayors and Men

Two major news-making presentations last night--there was the Presidential Address at West Point...and there was a live debate of the Mayoral Run-off Candidates here in Houston. Which of these two events will have more impact on your everyday life in Houston?

If you watched the Mayoral Debate, I am curious to know your impressions and what you perceive to be the outcome; was your decision changed or reinforced ahead of the election this month?

The other news-worthy event was President Obama's address from West Point, in which the Commander-in-Chief outlined the American Plan for the campaign in Afghanistan. Two questions emerged in my mind as I listened and reviewed the President's comments:

1.) Why would we telegraph to the Enemy what we're about to do?

2.) Why would we provide a date on which our forces would begin to withdraw from that region?

In war, surprise is a weapon.

So now the enemy knows another 30-thousand US troops are headed for their neighborhood. How long do you think it's going to take the bad guys to call their friends for reinforcements to meet this new surge?

And now that July 2011 has been identified as the beginning of the endpoint of our involvement in Afghanistan, what's to keep the bad guys from planning to hunker-down and just wait us out?

I applaud the President for making a hard decision to support the war effort. The battles are being fought in Afghanistan so that the bad guys don't come here.

Yes, it's that simple.

I rebuke pacifist, isolationist Democrats who are regarding Mr. Obama as a traitor to their cause; I rebuke Republicans for chastising the President for taking this long to reach a conclusion about the Afghanistan War and make a decsion on what to do. You people (Congress) voted unanimously to chase the bad guys down. Back the man, and back the plan, and get over yourselves.

As Mr. Obama correctly stated last night, the world in which we live and operate is an inter-connected one, and the United States' interests are served by having an impact in that corner of the world. Doing nothing is not a viable option.