When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. As election season arrives, President Obama is trying to shore up support with his Progressive base. One way, is to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

This decision is being criticized from all sides. The left is decrying it as another failed promise because he is not withdrawing totally from Afghanistan. The right is criticizing this move because the job is not complete in Afghanistan.

"Candidate Obama" pledged to get us out of wars and close GITMO. But "President Obama" has found it necessary to keep GITMO open, keep us involved in Iraq and even increase troop strength and widen the war in Afghanistan. President Obama has even found it necessary to involve us in a third "kinetic military action" in Libya. Some have even gone so far as to call it a war.

There is a stark difference between running for office and the business end of governing. Promises are made on the campaign trail that are later found to be difficult or impossible to keep, especially when your base of supporters are progressive liberals and you have to deal with strategic defense reality.

But the crux of the matter is, when Obama took office the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were ongoing. He did not start these wars, but he full well knew he would have to deal with them if he became President.

His key military advisers told him he would need a 60,000 troop surge in Afghanistan in order to turn the tide and subdue the Taliban. After very long deliberations, Obama allowed only 1/2 of that number to be increased. As a result there were never enough troops in the surge to accomplish what the military experts said needed to be done in Afghanistan. The decision was criticized by the left and the right.

Now that election season is drawing near, he is pulling those surge troops out.

It is never easy to be the leader, there are responsibilities that will fall on your shoulders. When it comes down to crunch time, tough decisions must be made.

If you are measuring all of your decisions by how you will be approved by poll numbers, then those decisions will not be what is best for the whole country.

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