Last Tuesday, President Barack Obama addressed the country from the United States Military Academy at West Point on the issue of Afghanistan and his plans to begin resolving the situation there. His choice of location was strategic. His cadence and syntax were refined and poignant, as always (I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to kiss Jon Favreau, the president's young upstart lead speechwriter). His message was clear: 30,000 troops will be deployed into Afghanistan for 18 months in order to protect our country and the innocent citizens of theirs.
Toward the beginning of the speech, Obama gave a brief, "Afghanistan for Dummies"-style recap of why we got into this war. After the events of 9/11, we couldn't just take the terrorism inflicted upon our nation lying down. We hunted down the al-Qaida and pursued Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, but to no avail. When intelligence was gained that he had made it into Pakistan, where it was confirmed and addressed in 2005 that they do indeed have WMDs, it is understandable that we had to take action. Now, I'm just as pro-peace and anti-war as the next neo-hippie, but I am also a realist. It's easy to see that some kind of action had to be taken. While 30,000 troops may sound excessive, we have to trust that the man we elected to run our country knows what he's doing.
"As we end the war in Iraq and transition to Afghan responsibility, we must rebuild our strength here at home. Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power. It pays for our military; it underwrites our diplomacy; it taps the potential of our people and allows investment in new industry; and it will allow us to compete in this century as successfully as we did in the last. That's why our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open- ended: because the nation that I'm most interested in building is our own," said Obama in his address. The truth of the matter is that as a country with so much power, it is our privilege and our duty to come to the aid of those who need us. Sending more troops to Aghanistan not only aids their country, but helps protect ours.
It's not a pitch-perfect plan, but it's a step in the right direction. Assuming the presidency of the United States, at this point in time, is essentially like being an overseer for the entire world. As a global superpower, people look to us to solve everyone's problems. However, they also occasionally blame us for them, whether there is a direct correlation or not. In the eyes of many, if we are not the cause, then we are the reason the issue is even still around.
In summation, it's hard to be the President. After assuming a position of leadership (I was the editor-in-chief of The Battalion last year), it gave me an unfounded wealth of perspective I had not anticipated. It made me realize how easy it is to criticize the people in charge, but how hard it is to fill their shoes once I was there. There was so much to consider on a daily basis that sometimes I felt like my head was going to explode-and I was only the editor-in-chief of a student newspaper. Imagine being the leader of the free world. I've become incredibly sympathetic to those in charge of others because you don't know what it takes to make the tough decisions until you are the one making them.
It is easy to see both ends of the spectrum -many Republicans view our president as a silver-tongued serpent who charmed his way into the Oval Office, while many Democrats view him as an incarnation of all their hopes, dreams and fears resolved. The most logical approach, though, is definitely the middle ground. Because at the end of the day, the president is just a man and it is a lot to ask that every decision he makes is the right one. It is impossible to say any president before him has led without missing a step, so why should he be any different?
The trademark presidential call for unity and celestial blessings at the end of his speech seemed to embody a wholesome spirit, an honest plea for support. For how powerful or successful can a leader expect to be if he doesn't have his populace behind him?
"I believe with every fiber of my being that we, as Americans, can still come together behind a common purpose." So do I, President Obama. And so should all of you.
Nicole Alvarado is a senior
communications major.
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