If your only idea of consolidating power or acting against American interests involves our adversaries "rolling tanks" or attacking the U.S. with armies then you need to do more research.

Obama has "stood in front" of people and said a whole lot of things. Few of them are reflected by either the real world or his own actions. This is a typical example, and there are many such. Your support for Israel is well known and to your credit. But Israel, along with Eastern Europe, dissidents in nations like Iran, and others who were hoping to count on us for support, are looking at Obama's actions, not his words.

It should have been no surprise that Afghanistan needed a surge, and certainly not a surprise to the President. 40,000 is actually in the middle range of current requests. How much more "review" does the question need? To me it's painfully obvious that Obama is looking for a way to bail out of Afghanistan. Like any other leftist, the military, to put it as charitably as possible, makes him uncomfortable, and he'd just as soon not have anything to do with it. I'm hoping that he surprises me, but I'm not making any bets.