The Sunday News shows today were a bit thin. They talked about the two governors and the upstate NY congressional district election, Obama and his Afghanistan policy, and health care.

The conservative pundits contend that Obama is going to lose all three elections, which will be a bad omen for him going into the mid-terms. I’m not ready to go that far. I think that most people think that Obama is trying. But a lot of people think that either he may be trying to go to far or that he isn’t going to be able to get it done. That is his challenge. He has to show some results in the months to come or he will be trouble. But he has a lot of things stirred up, and he may end up actually getting things done. If he does, and people like it, then those trying to stop him are going to be in trouble.

On Afghanistan, the conservative commentators are trying to pigeon hole him. They are using the time he is taking to decide on the troop run-up to say that because he is taking his time he is against the war, therefore, he cannot do the war properly and we will lose which will be his fault.

That’s a way to try and erase the fact that Bush actually got us into the war, and Obama is trying to deal with a difficult situation in less than a year. But, Obama made the situation more complicated and difficult for himself when, during the campaign, he repeatedly used Afghanistan as a counter to Iraq as a “good” war. Now he’s stuck not only with the war, but his statements.

But everyone does agree that Obama served the country and himself well when he went to Dover to meet the caskets from the 18 that died last week. It was definitely the right thing to do, and he needs to remember it when he makes his decision. I especially took offense at Krathamer’s quoting of David Brooks in saying that if the commander in chief’s “heart was not in” a particular, that they can’t properly administer it, and then, any “failure” is the fault of the commander in chief. That’s too easy of a way to deflect Bush’s decisions to get us into and manage the conflict. Of course, the republicans are pretty desperate.

The health care situation hasn’t changed much since last week. I’ll comment more about it when it moves substantively.