What is the meaning of this contradiction?
Washington (CNN) — Although the war in Afghanistan remains unpopular with most Americans, the public supports President Obama’s decision to send more U.S. troops to the conflict, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-nine percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday morning said they favor the president’s plan to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, with 39 percent opposed.
I really can not make sense of this poll. Here is my best guess: Americans want to win the war more than they want to end it? Is that it? Just winning?
good anti-war liberals are willing to send american boys to die in an unjust war and whore themselves out to obama in the interest of political gain.
very simple: they want it over & feel/hope Obama is the one guy that can pull it off…
yes,
Obama is a proven cunning warrior…
Charles,
I am not too surprised by the contradiction. It echoes Pres. Obama’s contradictory statements uttered at West Point recently. He said he would increase the number of troops deployed to Afghanistan to 30,000 but in the same text said he would start bringing them home in 2011. Not exactly consistant. And, the poll you cite is merely one poll. Americans aren’t against the war in Afghanistan as they are the one in Iraq and were the one in Vietnam. I sure don’t see a visible anti-war movement now.
That said, I believe Americans DO want to WIN the war in Afghanistan. I think many believe, if we’re there, let’s win it under our terms or don’t stay at all. We don’t want a protracted intervention like Vietnam and a dishonorable withdrawal with so many casualties lost in vain.
One thing to keep in mind is that the term “popular war” just might be a thing of the past. Roughly, since the early to mid-twentieth century, sending troops off to war has become increasingly scrutinized and downplayed. Gone are the unfurled flags and marching bands that bid farewell to soldiers on their embarkation to “fields of conflict”. Even if one reluctantly favors the war (the Afghan War is now Obama’s Just War), we do so without fanfare. The term “popular war” is now oxymoronic.
I’m just glad my nephew got to come back safe and sound recently, from serving with the Marines in Afghanistan.
The U.S. has an inferiority complex called “fear of the number two”: it translates to “if you’re anything but number one, then you don’t matter.”
Were Americans in aggregate to spend a tenth their energy and time on just doing their thing and doing it as best they can — rankings be damned — as they did on worrying about being number one for everything, there’d be a profound improvement of morale.
Ranks don’t matter once you’re dead, and it won’t feed the kids left behind, either.
I think it means Americans are sick and tired of war, but grudgingly agree with Obama that this is the war that is important for us to “win”–unlike Iraq.
It doesn’t seem like such a contradiction to me. “We dislike the war but trust Obama when he says that the surge is in the nation’s best interests. It’s not like we know better than the generals.”
Plus the anti-war demonstrators aren’t out there reminding everyone that more people will die as a result of this.
7
too bad.
cause we won that one.
and we ain’t winning this one.
It means that Americans are willing to take a poll that offers choices showing nothing about the complexities of imperialist folly like we are in the habit of being involved with.
They support their leader. How wise.
A majority supported Bush’s wars . . . at first. People want to believe that Obama is different, so they’re giving him the benefit of the doubt . . . . for now.
He deserves a chance to fix things, to make things better. There will be plenty of time for judgements.
I don’t see a contradiction. I don’t support the war, but if we’re going to stay there I’d rather we committ to it and make it safer for the boys over there than be half in half out and make the danger greater than it has to be.
it means he gets to take a whack because we’re already up to our necks in it.
except he has to use the military, which means there won’t be any fresh thinking. they’re still trying to get poppy farmers to switch to a different crop through eradication or education, instead of thinking like a capitalist pig, and just PAYING THEM TWICE WHAT THE TALIBAN DOES.
?? There no contridiction at all.
If you hate the war, you want to end it.
A surge in trops (to train and prepare the Afghans) is the strategy Obama believes is the best way to end the war. You didn’t think he would just call them home immediately did you? He campaigned on this whole strategy!
It’s not like we haven’t been here before- relax, people; we know what we are doing!
Meet American’s new war time president, there’s no change, and it’s even funnier if you think there’s anything you can believe in occupying a country that we can never win. I’m thinking a real poll wouldn’t show approval for war.
Also, favoring his plan is different than what the reality is (because if what he said was anything close to the whole truth no one would support it). Those 30,000 troops will be joined by at least twice as many contractors and Gates and Clinton both say 2011 is just a random date and troops will always come home based on conditions. Obama sucked himself into this war and he’s going to have a hard time getting himself out. Considering the way we elect presidents we’re stuck, so regardless of opinion we have another 3 years of war to analyze before we can tell if Obama did any good or if the situation is no different (as I suspect it will be). I’m willing to give him a shot, until he starts breaking laws.
It’s like 14 said, Obama gets to take a shot at it before we wind it down, and what’s more ironic than liberals sending 30,000 more troops to war is that conservatives are crying foul in the first months of this administration handling the effort, as opposed to saying anything in the past eight years.
Of course the GOP wasn’t going to be interested in ending the war(s) anytime in the past decade–it’s much easier to characterize it as Obama’s endeavor if he ends up having anything to do with it. History has proved that while conservatives claim to have a strong sense of ‘values’ those values can shift dramatically in an instant if they sense the opportunity to be outraged about something.