Weaving Afghanistan into health care reform

I had planned to write this before I could even imagine that President Obama would win this year's Nobel Peace Prize, so I will go on with my idea. Before I start, let me just state that I think the recipient is exceptional and certainly deserves the recognition as well as many others who have won the prize before him. Now that he is endowed with such a stunning award, how will he deal with Afghanistan?

First, I'm of the opinion that we, the United States, have no business in still occupying that country. Bush and Cheney did a terrible job after they invaded it, in the hope of kicking al Qaeda out, and today we're left with the results of their incompetence. Now, should we withdraw or stay? No matter which angle you look at, we're confronted with an impossible dilemma; damned if we do and damned if we don't. I don't believe that adding some 40,000 troops will help much as long as Karzai and his cronies stay in power and unless we make their corrupt government accountable for some momentous progress, we should definitely walk away. This said, the Republican love to scare Americans into war, that's the only thing they know.

Wouldn't it be the right moment for Obama to “trade horses” and tell the conservative “you support my health-care reform and we stay in Afghanistan, you don't, and we walk away...” I see nothing wrong with that and since the Afghan choice is so murky, why not leverage it to the hilt. I hope the president has the imagination and the guts to follow this highly political approach and, by doing so, constructively contribute some of his newly acquired capital ...