by Elizabeth A. Marion

Created on: October 07, 2009

No, the President should not have wasted time and embarrassed his country in Copenhagen. I have a few reasons, but the biggest is Afghanistan. The President received a request from the top General in Afghanistan for more troops back in mid-August. He didn't have a meeting on the matter until it became public knowledge and he felt pressured. When asked about the delay, the President explained that he wanted to know what the strategy is before committing more troops.

As usual, what Obama says and what he does don't match up. He's said that we need to win the war in Afghanistan, and that Afghanistan is the place we should have been focused on all along, not Iraq. Now, when he suddenly has to make a decision, he's hesitant. He is not a decisive and strong leader. He can talk for hours about what he wants to do, what his plans are, and how great he thinks he is, but when it really comes down to the moment of truth when he has to make a decision, he's not sure what to do anymore. So, instead of dealing with the issue, he avoids it until the public pressures him into doing something.

Perhaps someone should inform the President that a war is more important than a game. Maybe someone should let him know that he is insulting the troops who are already over there by dilly-dallying instead of doing what he said he would do for the past year! He's said he wanted to send more troops to Afghanistan. Why is it suddenly so difficult? And why in the world would he make time for Copenhagen when he still isn't sure what to do in Afghanistan? Why are our troops being treated like second class citizens by the President of the United States?

The trip to Copenhagen wouldn't bother me if there wasn't so much going on right now. However, there is a lot going on right now. He had no right to go to Copenhagen when he still needed to have meetings to reach a decision on Afghanistan. I'm not against Chicago hosting the Olympics and, even though I don't particularly like it, I'm not really against the President trying to ensure Chicago gets to host the Olympics. What I am against is the President putting a game above the lives of the troops on his list of priorities. Plain and simple, it isn't right.

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