Don’t those words have a startling ring – after all, Democrats loathe wars (and instead, at least, these days in Congress, seem to have fallen in love with bailing out Wall Street billionaires).

But, now, the Democrats have a war of their own – and they’ll own it lock, stock and barrel the moment Obama lifts his hand and takes the oath of office.

I’m not talking about Iraq – but Afghanistan. Because whatever happens in Iraq, Obama has pledged to stand and fight in Afghanistan – and the peace wing of the Democratic Party might ought to have paid closer attention.

Because things in Afghanistan don’t look too good. Right now.

For instance, Obama’s new Secretary of Defense (designee) just returned from Kandahar, promising he’d rush 20,000 more troops to Kabul before any Taliban spring offensive – which will bring the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan to 54,000.

Is Secretary Gates speaking for his old boss – George W. Bush – or his new boss – Barack Obama? Or both?

How far are we from victory? Opium production is higher than ever, the Taliban is stronger than it has been since 2001, air strikes have killed so many civilians even our puppet president – Hamid Karzai – is condemning us and in one week hauling supplies over the Kiber Pass we lost hundreds of trucks.

Obama’s Secretary of Defense to be says victory means a “sustained commitment for some protracted period of time” – then in the next breath compares Afghanistan to the Cold War, which lasted 45 years. Our generalissimo in Afghanistan, David McKiernon, is a little more optimistic. He says it will take – minimum – three or four years to get the Afghan army up to snuff so it can go toe-to-toe with the Taliban.

How will Obama sell that to the antiwar Democrats whose tolerance for fighting any war that lasts longer than a Super Bowl party is non-existent?

If General McKiernon is right we’re still going to be fighting in Afghanistan about the time Obama runs for reelection. Who’d have expected that?

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