His political allies and Chicago operatives have made excuses for President Obama's indecisiveness regarding sending more US troops to Afghanistan. But his Secretary of Defense, the member of this administration who actually knows what he’s talking about, is speaking out against delaying this important command decision.

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Mr. Obama's hand-picked commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal recommended weeks ago that thousands more troops be sent to the theater but the president has refused to make the call. Over the past couple of days White House advisers have insinuated that the president may delay this decision even further due to election issues in Afghanistan prompting Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to speak to reporters, "We're not just going to sit on our hands, waiting for the outcome of this election and for the emergence of a government in Kabul."

Mr. Gates went on to say. "The outcome of the elections and the problems with the elections have complicated the situation for us. But the reality is, it's not going to be complicated one day and simple the next. We're going to have to work with this going forward, and I believe the president will have to make his decisions in the context of that evolutionary process." (source)

In case anyone's forgotten, Secretary Gates is the lone holdover from the Bush administration in the Obama Cabinet. He took office in December, 2006 after serving for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and on the National Security Council. Before joining the CIA he was an officer in the United States Air Force.

And we keep on waiting for the community organizer to make this decision based on political strategy.