THE GROWING FEELING - AT 11:15 A.M. ET:  There's a growing feeling, reflected in press articles even in the liberal media, that Mr. Obama is weak and indecisive.  Surprise!  Consider Doyle McManus in The Los Angeles Times:

Barack Obama is in danger of giving deliberation a bad name.

The decision about whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan was never going to be easy, but events -- and a collision of egos in Kabul -- have conspired to make it even harder.

Obama was right to insist on a full review of whether U.S. interests are better served by expanding the American military footprint in Afghanistan or shrinking it.

But now, two months into his second "comprehensive policy review," after eight Cabinet-level meetings and several slipped target dates, the president still hasn't made up his mind.

In George W. Bush, we had a president who shot first and asked questions later. In Barack Obama, we have a president who asks the right questions but hesitates to pull the trigger.

Three weeks ago, former Vice President Dick Cheney accused Obama of "dithering." At the time, the charge sounded premature and partisan -- but now some of Obama's own supporters have begun to wonder whether Cheney was right.

COMMENT:  Whether Cheney was right?  Did you ever think you'd hear that?  From Obama's own supporters?  Maybe the clergy is right.  There is redemption.  It may be morning in America again...after the long Obama night.

What may be missing here is that Obama heads a wing of his party that is fundamentally hostile to national defense.  It is a wing that was produced by the 1960s - national defense bad, enemies of the United States merely misunderstood.  Our legitimate fear is that Obama honestly believes that wing to be correct.  If he does - and he does - we are in for major trouble, and our children will pay the price.

November 15,  2009