Ambassador to Afganistan explains reservations on troop increase

The Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, has contacted the President to express his concerns about the plan to increase troops. The recently elected Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has since contacted the US Embassy in Afghanistan to try to determine exactly what was said. Officials have not confirmed the contents of the cables, instead merely saying that Eikenberry "expressed concern and reservations about troop increases in Afghanistan." The reason for his concern is that he is not quite sure how exactly Karzai is going to implement his hand in the government, and exactly what type of government Karzai is going to bring. Eikenberry has, in the past, expressed his concerns about corruption in Karzai's government, and how effective he will be in working with the US to fight the Taliban. Eikenberry also feels that Karzai has not been consistent in his behavior, which is worrisome for Obama.



http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/12/obama.afghanistan/index.html



Although the article did not say much about Karzai's questioning about the documents (who's existance has been confirmed by White House officials on two seperate occasions), this paranoid behavior seems to say that the Afghan president is indeed flaky, as Eikenberry had expressed. Even though the United States has managed to implement a democratic voting system in Afghanistan, there is still a lot to do before the corruption, etc., are out of the system.
To fight the Taliban, the US is going to definitely need to cooperation of the Afghan government, which, as Eikenberry states, is not definite.

Palin's Oprah interview.... in the Politics section?

Even though the whole country, I'm sure, is obsessed with the Palin family's fued with almost family-member Levi Johnston, there should be no reason that Sarah Palin's interview with Oprah should be posted in the "Politics" section of CNN.com. While the topic is interesting (why would the Palin's still condsider Johnston as "part of the family" after the war of words that has persisted between the two parties?), it would be better placed, say, in the "Entertainment" section of the site. This is not political news, despite the fact that Sarah Palin

is still making headlines for multiple reasons. There are much more important stories that are actually politcally-orientated that would be much more use to the site, such as the President of Afghanistan relaying his feeling about an increase of troops to the region to Obama, or the number two Republican in the House, Eric Cantor, denying reports that he will run for President. The article about Palin held absolutely nothing about anything political, unless you count the fact that Palin declares that the campaign staff encouraged her to do the Katie Couric interview that she said was a "bad interview." We really need to relegate posts such as these to the "Entertainment" section, and let REAL political news take the headlines.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/12/palin-were-not-really-into-the-drama/

Congress to miss health-care deadline

President Obama set a deadline of the end of the year to get a health-care reform passed. Dick Durbin, D-Il., the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, said that while the President's deadline wont be met, he at least hopes to pass a health-care bill in the Senate by that time.
Former President Bill Clinton visited the White House to discuss the bill with the Senate Democrats. After trying and failing to get a health-care overhaul passed while in office, Clinton told the current Senators that they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to push through a reform package that is crucial to the country's long-term health.
The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, D-Nv, has in the past expressed his doubt that the deadline could be met. Right now, the most crucial obstacle is whether or not to include a government-public run option.
However, leaders in both the House and the Senate have agreed on a couple broad changes that would be included in the bill: subsidizing insurance for a family of four for up to $88,000 per year; expand Medicaid and create health insurance exchanges; and limit out of pocket expenses and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/10/health.care/index.html

The Dems need to hurry and try to push their bill through both the House and the Senate, before the elections coming up next year.
It's also my personal opinion that they should indeed add a stipulation for a government-run public option, because the states would have till 2014 to decided whether or not to accept this. That will give the states time to take polls, and determine if it would be beneficial for the people in their states.