About As Good As Possible

Obama declares success and begins the ever so slow process of downsizing America's war in Afghanistan. "We are meeting our goals" rather than "mission accomplished" even if his claim is as hollow as CheneyBush's juvenile outburst.

For the first time since Lyndon Johnson told General Westmoreland "no more troops" in 1968 a president has challenged the logic of the war machine. Of course, it took another seven years to end that earlier war so I'm not too sanguine about present prospects but at least Obama went a bit beyond the token withdrawal that the generals were offering.

That's about as good as it gets in America these days.