A President of the old school

Whatever we pundits might say about President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan plan, his decision on Tuesday night says far more about Mr. Obama himself.

In an age where public discourse is sadly dominated by 24/7 cable TV — and by “blogs” like this one — we’ve grown use to politicians who shuttle back and forth from the infotainment world to the world of politics.

Karl Rove, Howard Dean, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, even former President Bill Clinton.

They’ve all blurred the lines between the chattering classes and the people who actually have to make decisions and govern.

Their world is one of unrealistically sharp distinctions, of ideology over substance and fact.

Their labels, “conservative” and “progressive,” often eclipse the reality on the ground.

Mr. Obama’s decision flew in the face of this new, childish paradigm. It rejected a culture of shouting and innuendo.

It’s telling that the mere fact that the President took time to review his options, and to second-guess his generals, sparked so much ire among pundits.

Whatever you think of the decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan, we should be reassured by the larger message sent by the White House.

Mr. Obama showed independence, intellectual rigor, and a loyalty to his office that transcended his loyalty to party or faction or clique.

In a culture nearly swamped in sound and fury signifying nothing, he insisted on time to think and plan.

Of course, we may still one day discover that he was wrong. He inherited an awful mess.

But many of our greatest Presidents have made disastrous decisions in times of war, from Lincoln’s awful prosecution of the early stages of the Civil War to Ronald Reagan’s horrific blunder in Beirut.

Despite my own misgivings, I’m reassured by the fact that this decision wasn’t ideological, not part of a grand and utopian vision for reinventing the Middle East.

Mr. Obama isn’t indulging in necon fantasies about the projection of American power. This wasn’t “Bring it on.”

This was a practical, nuanced decision, a calculated risk.

And because Mr. Obama’s team has demonstrated a willingness to change and adapt, we can expect the plan to be altered and reshaped in the months ahead.

If we’re to “win” in Afghanistan, we’ll need more boots on the ground. But we’ll also need realism, flexibility and rigor in the Oval office.

I think we saw a taste of that on Tuesday.