Hard Left Breaks With Obama on Afghanistan!

The Wall Street Journal has a great piece today, "Liberals Distance Themselves From the President." It turns out that some congressional Democrats and candidates for office in 2010 are rejecting the administration's troop surge. As noted there:

The liberal activist group MoveOn.org distributed an "emergency petition" Wednesday, saying that Congress "must push the Obama administration to outline firm benchmarks and a binding timeline to bring all of our troops home from Afghanistan as soon as possible."

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, this week penned an anti-surge essay titled "Time to Bring Home the Troops" on the liberal Daily Kos blog. Her chief rival in the Democratic primary, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, issued a statement late Tuesday night declaring that "defeating al Qaeda does not require 30,000 additional troops."

Democrats in other states chimed in their opposition, including Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who is up for re-election next year, and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a former Republican who is trying to build ties to liberal voters amid a primary challenge. Begrudging support came from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D., Mass.), who said anything short of a rapid transfer of authority to Afghans "will end in failure, no matter how many troops we send to Afghanistan."

While Mr. Obama remains popular with Democratic voters, his standing could be hurt if he backtracks on his new pledge to begin a speedy troop drawdown in July 2011. The deadline was set to appease liberal skeptics, but Obama officials indicated in congressional testimony Wednesday that the president could adjust it based on conditions at the time.

Yeah, and Obama's efforts to appease his leftist flank have only worked to paint the adminstration as irresolute and confused. See today's Los Angeles Times, "Confusion Swirls Around New War Plan":

The war plan presented by the president Tuesday night, which fixes the beginning of troop reductions in July 2011 but does not set an end, was the subject of widespread confusion as lawmakers, diplomats and others debated whether it meant that American forces were headed for a hasty exit or a protracted military engagement.

Note too that it's not just congressional Democrats and state party candidates who are repudiating the administration. See, "Liberals Warn Obama That Base May Skip Midterm Elections."

These people could care less about American national security -- and in fact, these groups will form a domestic fifth column to bring about defeat at home. And of course, Obama brings it on himself (recall the president was the most antiwar senator on Capital Hill throughout 2007).

And there's more: A new communist-umbrella lobbying organization called End All Wars has announced a new round of protests against the administration's military policies. "EMERGENCY ANTI-ESCALATION RALLYSaturday, Dec. 12, 2009 • 11am-4pm • Washington DC. - Stop the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Escalation of the Afghan War!"

And check out this from the website:

It's so bad for the Obama that even his old radical pal William Ayers has bailed out on him. See, "Bill Ayers Dumps Obama."

More at Memeorandum.