What a Difference a Week Makes for Bill Kristol

One day out from Obama’s long-awaited announcement on troop deployments to Afghanistan the White House is getting plenty of criticism from both sides of the aisle.

Democrats, including Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the influential chair of the House Appropriations Committee, have expressed concerns about both the cost of the war and the difficulty of achieving victory in defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Republicans, such as John McCain (R-AZ), have hammered Obama for setting a timeline for troop withdrawals beginning in 18 months.

Despite the widespread lack of enthusiasm, however, the White House has made striking progress in turning around Weekly Standard editor and outspoken Obama critic (and Sarah Palin booster) Bill Kristol.

On November 23rd, Kristol wrote in the Weekly Standard:

”Just what is Barack Obama as president making of our American destiny? The answer, increasingly obvious, is … a hash. It’s worse than most of us expected. His dithering on Afghanistan is deplorable, his appeasing of Iran disgraceful, his trying to heap new burdens on a struggling economy destructive,’’

But in today’s Washington Post Kristol was hailing the new “War President”.

“By mid-2010, Obama will have more than doubled the number of American troops in Afghanistan since he became president; he will have empowered his general, Stanley McChrystal, to fight the war pretty much as he thinks necessary to in order to win; and he will have retroactively, as it were, acknowledged that he and his party were wrong about the Iraq surge in 2007 — after all, the rationale for this surge is identical to Bush’s, and the hope is for a similar success. He will also have embraced the use of military force as a key instrument of national power.’’

The extent to which Kristol’s reassessment reflects his political agility, or Obama’s, remains unclear.

Author: Eli Clifton

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service's Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

11 thoughts on “What a Difference a Week Makes for Bill Kristol”

  1. He will also have embraced the use of military force as a key instrument of national power.

    It's a good thing Kristol is wrong about everything. Although he may actually be right about this.

    Q: How awful is that?

    A: Awful x2…

  2. It's such a shame that a Nobel Prize recipient is now an avowed militarist with gallons of blood on his hands. I mean when was the last time that happened?…uh…never mind…

  3. Wonder if there will be any protests when Obama picks up his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo next week.

  4. Oh our glorious American destiny. The man on the street reduced to economic shambles, the dollar circling the toilet bowl. But the government still militant. That's what Kristol means by our American destiny.

  5. Kristol is a Zionist / Neocon TRAITOR to the U.S. and as big a moron and idiot as there is on this green Earth! His bragging that "the U.S. is the new Rome, more powerful than the old Rome" with an empire larger than the old Rome. Of course, the old Rome as is the case of ALL old empires, is dust on the pages of History – which is exactly where the U.S. is headed. Obama is a mere puppet for the Zionists and Neocons – he is deluded into thinking that he has a brain – he has proven that he is a LIAR and INCOMPETENT and NOT fit to be president. Afghanistan is "the graveyard of empires and of soldiers" – it will prove to be our graveyard! Nikita Krushchev was correct in his prediction: "We don't have to worry about the United States. They will spend themselves out of existence."

  6. Kristol is looking out for Israel. America is just a convenient tool to further Israeli interests.

  7. Did Bill say hash? Like as in Black Afghan?
    Far out man, those neocons know their dope.
    Verrry impressive.

    Nothing like a good buzz and an airstrike, it sort of just makes things feel … worthwhile.

  8. If I had my way, I’d kick Kristol’s chickenhawk, Israel-first ass over to Tel Aviv, with orders to stay there.

    It’ll be interesting to see what President Obama The Divine says in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, now that he’s a war-fightin’ man and all. . . .

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