Take Harper's Advice Obama

Obama worshippers and Harper haters must cringe while reading this op-ed from Lawrence Martin at the Globe & Mail:

On Afghanistan, where three more Canadian soldiers were killed on Tuesday, you get the feeling that our Prime Minister is being refreshingly candid while Barack Obama, he with the four-square reputation, is playing dangerous games.

Stephen Harper shocked more than a few observers with his recent statement that the Pakistan-abetted Taliban insurgency probably will never be defeated. Leaders seldom, if ever, say this kind of thing when their troops are on the battlefield. Usually, they just raise false hopes.

Mr. Obama is going the surge route in Afghanistan. The first big foreign policy act of his presidency is a major escalation of a war – 17,000 more troops. It makes him sound more like Lyndon Johnson than a peacemaker. And it looks suspiciously like an act of political counterbalance – I've got to look tough – for his planned exit from Iraq.

After you send in the troops, the problem is getting them out. Presidents don't like to leave without a claim to victory. Otherwise, they fear they'll be seen as sending a message to the world that America is weak.

Yes, that's right. Harper is looking like the decisive intellectual here while Obama looks weak. Liberals and Dippers are looking around for the script that Harper is a George Bush clone.