WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Thursday forcefully rejected criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney and other Republicans that President Barack Obama's Afghanistan decision is
taking too long.
"What Vice President Cheney calls dithering, President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."
Cheney said in a speech Wednesday night that Obama needs to "do what it takes to win" and that "signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries."
Taking a similar tack on Thursday, former GOP House Speaker Newt
Gingrich criticized the administration during a speech in Fort
Worth, Texas, suggesting Obama has projected confusion onto the
Afghanistan conflict in his public statements.

Tough enough? A narrative that dogged Obama in 2007/2008 -- but which he overcame in winning the Democratic nomination and then the presidency -- is beginning to resurface again: Is he tough enough? In Friday’s National Journal, Kirk Victor wrote that “a narrative is emerging among some columnists, pundits, and academics across the political spectrum that Obama’s low-key, cool, cerebral style, while reassuring on many levels, lacks the punch that is sometimes needed to advance an agenda in Washington, and in a perilous world.” And on Sunday, Maureen Dowd added, “F.D.R. asked to be judged by the enemies he had made. But what of a president who strives to keep everyone in some vague middle ground of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, without ever offending anyone?”

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