The World Reacts to Obama's Afghanistan Plan

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Last night the world tuned in to watch President Obama formally announce that an additional 30,000 troops will be sent to aid in the U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.

"I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan...I do not make this decision lightly. I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake."

The President's decision has been highly anticipated following Bob Woodward's article in The Washington Post on September 21, 2009 that exposed the details of a confidential 66-page report in which top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal suggests that if more troops are not sent overseas, U.S. Military efforts "will likely result in failure."


Check out this collection of responses and opinions about President Obama's announcement from past Connecticut Forum panelists:


Matthew Dowd

"Bottom line: Good speech, lots of eloquence, little lasting political effect. Nine months ago nearly two-thirds of the country approved of President Obama's handling of Afghanistan. Today, a majority of the country disapproves. This speech will make little difference in that measure, in the president's overall approval rating or in the public's will to keep fighting this war. " more

Arianna Huffington

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Mo Rocca

(Via Twitter) "Obama to send 30,002 troops to Afghanistan (congrats, Tareq and Michaele Salahi! This time you're invited.)"


Thomas Friedman

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Richard Holbrooke

“I feel very strongly that Afghanistan is the ultimate test of Nato and the western alliance.” Arguing that the consequences of failure would be far worse than those suffered by the US following its withdrawal from Vietnam. more

Andrew Sullivan

"I think this strategy is doomed. But then I think any strategy that does not pledge to colonize Afghanistan, pour trillions of dollars into it and stay for a century is doomed. So why do I end up this morning feeling rather similar to my colleague, Jim Fallows, who simply sighs: 'Well, I hope he's right"?" more

Newt Gingrich




Michael Moore

"President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either." more

Former Forum Panelists Weigh in on Palin

Leave a comment or email us at info at ctforum dot org by Wednesday, September 17 at noon EST for a chance to win two tickets to The Presidency! Good luck!

These days, it seems that everyone's talking about politics, preparedness, and Palin. (But mostly the latter.)

Here's what a few former Connecticut Forum panelists have to say...

Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

“...you can disagree with some of her positions, I disagree violently with some of them, but…she is the governor of a state, you don’t get to be a governor by accident... She has balanced raising a family with public service and my hat's off to her.”

“You want to have a spirited, close race where the public really has to sit down and think what they want and who they are going to vote for. That’s good for democracy. I think she is to be congratulated. I wish her and John McCain well. And I wish Joe Biden and Barack Obama well...I hope the press focuses on the issues instead of some of the personal things that seem to have dominated the press for the last few days. It was really a shame.” Read more...

Gloria Steinem:

Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton...Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs." Read more...

Newt Gingrich:

"She is the real thing," Gingrich said. "But she is going to make mistakes, and her ability to withstand what (the media) will legitimately try to do to her" will determine "whether she is an enormous asset and game changer, or she turns out to be a liability." Read more...

Mo Rocca:

Let's face it: this is a race between Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Joe Biden is dead weight - a good man, perhaps, and funny at times. But he can be downright tedious - speaking in undiagrammable sentences. And McCain is ideologically rudderless - this week a maverick, last week conservative, next week a populist - all the while nervously tugging at his fingers, hoping he can hitch a ride on the Palins' DC-bound snowmobile. Read more...

Pat Buchanan:

"...she's a terrific gal. She's a rebel, reformer..." Watch video clip...

Thomas Friedman:

With his choice of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor who has advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and does not believe mankind is playing any role in climate change, for vice president, John McCain has completed his makeover from the greenest Republican to run for president to just another representative of big oil. Read more...

Ann Coulter:

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate finally gave Republicans a reason to vote for him -- a reason, that is, other than B. Hussein Obama. They claimed Palin was chosen only because she's a woman. In fact, Palin was chosen because she's pro-life, pro-gun, pro-drilling and pro-tax cuts. She's fought both Republicans and Democrats on public corruption and does not have hair plugs like some other vice presidential candidate I could mention. In other words, she's a "Republican." Read more...

Alec Baldwin:

"John McCain is not George Bush, Sarah Palin is." Read more...

Peggy Noonan:

Much has been said about her speech, but a few points. “The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick” is pure American and goes straight into Bartlett’s. This is the authentic sound of the American mama, of every mother you know at school who joins the board, reads the books, heads the committee, and gets the show on the road. These women make large portions of America work...There is something so normal about her, so “You’ve met this person before and you like her,” that she broke through in a new way, as a character vividly herself, and vividly genuine. Read more... or read/watch her unedited live comments...

James Carville:

"This is a very, very complicated world and my problem with this woman is not what kind of mother she is or not what her values are...it's that she's just uniquely and supremely unqualified for the office of which they've selected to run for and it's kind of unfair to her." Watch the video...

Mary Matalin:

"She's new, she's fresh, she's young, people like her..." Watch the video...

Frank Rich:

"We still don’t know a lot about Palin except that she’s better at delivering a speech than McCain and that she defends her own pregnant daughter’s right to privacy even as she would have the government intrude to police the reproductive choices of all other women...Whatever we do and don’t know about Palin’s character at this point, there is no ambiguity in what her ascent tells us about McCain’s character and potential presidency..." Read more...