Kagan writes, "The President must call for young Americans to volunteer to defend the nation in a time of crisis." Given the unpopularity of the president, and of this war, this seems unlikely. After the Sept. 11 attacks, when Bush was at peak popularity, and when the country was experiencing a surge of patriotism, Congress passed a bill expanding the size of the Army by 30,000 troops. Five years later, the Army has actually expanded by just 23,000 troops. It's still 7,000 troops short of that target. How does Kagan expect to attract 30,000 more in just one year, much less to do so two years in a row?
But why limit it to the president? Why doesn't, say, Bill O'Reilly or Fred Kagan or Kenneth Pollack or Rush Limbaugh or Hugh Hewitt or Jonah Goldberg or any of these other people "call for young Americans to volunteer to defend the nation in a time of crisis." Why isn't Sean Hannity touring the country with military recruiters to sign up his fans? Why aren't any of the RedStaters, who spend their days drooling over LOTR war porn, signing up?
One thing this latest conversation has done is acknowledge that there aren't enough troops. So why aren't all of these patriotic Americans enlisting or calling on their fellow travelers to do so?
(via lgm)