Maybe the Times They Are A-Changing

Senior Democratic Representative Norm Dicks of Washington has warned President Obama that he cannot ignore the growing “war fatigue” in Congress and must consider steps to accelerate a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Dicks is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Obama's "surge" in Afghanistan. He now has serious reservations and last week quietly sided with anti-war forces in backing an amendment demanding that Obama come up with plans this summer to accelerate the withdrawal and pursue a negotiated settlement with “all interested parties” in Afghanistan, including the Taliban.

Combined with growing cost of the endless wars, maybe something is a-changing. I won't count on it, though. Dick's predecessor, the late John Murtha, made a similar about fact on the Iraq war in 2005. Nothing happened then. I'm not sure that the US has made the fundamental changes in mindset that will allow Obama to follow Dicks' advice.