"President Barack Obama made no effort to conceal his irritation when his press corps used the first question of his maiden Far East trip to ask what was taking him so long on Afghanistan.
Jennifer Loven of The Associated Press had asked: “Can you explain to people watching and criticizing your deliberations what piece of information you're still lacking to make that call.”
“With respect to Afghanistan, Jennifer,” the president scolded, “I don't think this is a matter of some datum of information that I'm waiting on. … Critics of the process … tend not to be folks who … are directly involved in what's happening in Afghanistan. Those who are, recognize the gravity of the situation and recognize the importance of us getting this right.”[Emphasis added].
"The cool president’s heated response reflected second-guessing from the press and Pentagon about a process that has spanned eight formal meetings with his war cabinet, totaling about 20 hours."
"White House senior adviser David Axelrod, who attends the deliberations but says he does not “have a seat at the table,” told POLITICO that the impatience on the momentous decision is a symptom of today’s “A.D.D. political culture."
This President has very thin skin, combined with an exceedingly out-sized ego: Yeah, his critics just don't understand the gravity of the situation like he does because they are not directly involved in what's happening - or as Axelrod implies, they are simply not emotionally capable of understanding. Well, those same criticisms could have been directed to him during the 2008 campaign when he criticized the Bush administration - he wasn't "directly involved" in any decisions about Iraq, Iran, Gitmo, etc.
But perhaps Axelrod was right about one thing: this Administration's rush to close Gitmo without a plan may have resulted from the "A.D.D. political culture" afflicting the Obami.
Read it all here:
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