Obama & Co. Romance Hated Karzai With Lies

Washingtonians lie all the time, but “with the arrival of Hamid Karzai, the mendacity blossomed into absurdity,” writes Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. Obama can't stand Karzai—and really, neither can anyone else. But Dowd says they'll pretend to like him, because “like a lover who has learned that his fickle mistress responds better to sweets than rants, the administration has abruptly switched from nagging the corrupt Afghan president to nuzzling him.”

So they'll tell him that the US "has a long-term commitment in Afghanistan (it doesn’t) and an endgame there (it doesn’t)." Karzai, meanwhile, will promise to root out corruption and crack down on opium (fat chance). Karzai will dine in the home of Joe Biden (who hates him), and take a romantic stroll through a Georgetown garden with Hillary Clinton, who bonded with Karzai over her bruising election experience. He can relate; he had to rig the vote twice. (More Hamid Karzai stories.)