white flag or crowbar?

Two pithy and contrasting takes on the deadline (via Mike Allen):

Chris Matthews:

"If I were with the Taliban right now, I'd put a little Post-it up on that month in 2011, and say: 'This is when we do OUR surge."

White House sources (via Allen):

What everyone’s missing about the time constraint (what we call the July 2011 target to begin withdrawing...) is that it’s leverage on Karzai. And it’s leverage, frankly, on ourselves and on the bureaucracy of the government.

I can see the point of both. Jeez I'm glad I'm not the president. So are you, I'm sure.

Comments

[Charles]

Yep. But I sure could share some lessons about change in democracy, corporate welfare, lobbying, fund-raising, the military industrial complex, the CIA, Gitmo and extraordinary renditions. Just saying like.