for the past week or so, there's been this theory bouncing around the right that obama is delaying the announcement new afghanistan strategy to avoid further democratic losses in the november 3rds off-year election. as yglesias noted last week, the theory makes absolutely no sense.
it seemed rather obvious that the president might be delaying his announcement until after the afghan elections were resolved. in fact, the administration has all but hinted that's the case. but that's a responsible reason for the president to delay, which doesn't suit his critics' charge of dithering at all. plus, a lot of members of the right seem to be incapable of viewing foreign events without viewing it through the prism of domestic party politics.
but then over the weekend, just days before the american election, abdullah abdullah announced that he was withdrawing from the afghan runoff. the runoff has now been canceled and karzai has been officially declared reelected. which means that one factor that was probably delaying the president's afghan strategy announcement has been resolved and that announcement could come soon. but if it does come soon, that would be just after the american elections. even though abdullah2's decision had nothing to do with the governor's race in new jersey or the contest over a congressional district in rural new york, proponents of the stupid theory are sure to point to that if obama announces the strategy in the next week.
of course, maybe he won't announce later this week. the afghan elections were just one of a few different factors that obama was considering. it's possible they will mull it over a little longer. we'll find out soon if it's coming soon.
