Obama 'Skeptical' About More Troops in Afghanistan

Pres calls Russians 'paranoid' and refuses to comment on ACORN
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 20, 2009 9:13 AM CDT
Obama 'Skeptical' About More Troops in Afghanistan
President Barack Obama visited four Sunday talk shows today to promote his agenda.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

If it’s Sunday, it’s President Obama, who took to five Sunday talk shows today (including Univision, but excluding Fox) to promote his agenda. Among the highlights:

  • Obama warned US commanders on This Week he’s “skeptical” that more US troops in Afghanistan will make a difference.
  • On State of the Union, he suggested that the nation’s job woes could worsen over the next couple of months and that job creation might not pick up until sometime next year.

  • Twice calling the Russians “paranoid” on Face the Nation, the president said if his decision to abandon planned missile defense sites in Europe reassured the Kremlin, “then that’s a bonus.”
  • Relaying an account from President Clinton, Obama told CNN that Kim Jong-Il seems “pretty healthy and in control,” adding that his administration’s approach to North Korea so far has been a “success story.”
  • Obama said he refuses to interfere with the Justice Department’s investigation of Bush-era interrogation tactics, but noted that he doesn’t want to see any “witch hunts.”
  • He punted on the ACORN scandal, telling ABC, “Frankly, it’s not really something I’ve followed closely.”
(More Barack Obama stories.)

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