from msnbc
Another day, another handwringing meeting by politicians on the issue of Afghanistan.
Nobody said the decision the president is facing was going to be easy and yesterday he got a taste of just how hard it is to find a middle ground when he said down with 30+ Congressional leaders from both parties.
The highlight of the meeting appears to be the snippy exchange between President Obama and his '08 foe, John McCain. Depending on your point of view, it's either the picture of the wise Washington sage lecturing the young naive war president or the angry old guy snapping at the guy he still holds a grudge against for denying him the presidency. (Remember, when the C.W. crowd in Washington thought the loser of the Obama-McCain matchup would go out of their way to work with the new president?)
As for the policy debate, today the president convenes the third session of his war council to focus for three hours on where Pakistan fits in. Vice President Biden, among others, is an advocate of a "Pakistan First" policy which says any decision in Afghanistan should be made through the prism of Pakistan stability and for eradicating the al Qaeda safe havens in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)/Northwest tribal region of the country.
