Was last night’s speech Obama’s ‘mission accomplished’ moment

Last night, President Obama announced the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, calling the recent surge a ‘victory.’ At least one pundit isn’t too sure.

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The Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank seems to think so.

In a column in this morning’s Post, Milbank compared Obama’s speech announcing a drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan—calling the recent troop surge a “victory”—to that of President Bush’s ill-fated address on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

“There was no banner, no naval cheering section, no aircraft-carrier landing and—thank heavens—no flight suit. But make no mistake: President Obama gave his own version of a ‘mission accomplished’ speech Wednesday.

“The policy itself was no triumph, just a split-the-difference compromise between the slower troop withdrawal from Afghanistan sought by the generals and the faster one many congressional Democrats and a majority of the public desired. But Obama packaged it nicely, wrapped it with a bow and declared, perhaps prematurely, that his ‘surge’ in Afghanistan had been a success.”

Speaking to the nation from the East Room of the White House, President Obama said:

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