Obama's Afghanistan policy isn't 'dithering.' It's 'reckless.'
(Read article summary)GOP Rep. Tom Price says Obama's Afghanistan policy isn't 'dithering,' as Cheney put it. But it's 'reckless' none the less, he says.
Rep. Tom Price, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, disagrees with former Vice President Dick Cheney’s charge earlier this week that President Obama is “dithering” over the path forward in Afghanistan.
“Dithering is probably not the right description, but I think that the policy they are currently adopting is a reckless policy and that is a policy of wait and see,” Representative Price told a Monitor-sponsored breakfast for reporters on Friday. The Georgia Republican became chairman of the RSC this year. The group bills itself as the largest caucus on Capitol Hill and includes some of the most conservative House members.
Cheney on the attack
In a speech Wednesday evening, Mr. Cheney told a conservative national security group, the Center for Security Policy, that Mr. Obama needs to “do what it takes to win” and that “signals of indecision out of the White House hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.” Cheney added, “the White House must stop dithering while American armed forces are in danger.”
The dithering comment provoked a strong response from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “What Vice President Cheney calls `dithering,’ President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public,” Mr. Gibbs said. “I think we’ve all seen what happens when somebody doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.”
While Price’s language differs from Cheney’s, his message was clearly critical. Obama is currently weighing a request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal for additional troops for the war in Afghanistan.
