Gibbs: Obama Won't Be Pressured Into Decision on Afghanistan

President Obama faces two of the most crucial decisions of his presidency in the next few weeks—on Afghanistan and on how to overhaul the healthcare system—but he won't be forced into rushing things. That's the word from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who gave U.S. News a preview of the autumn schedule in an interview.

Gibbs says a decision on what to do next in Afghanistan is "several weeks away," and Obama still has many issues to resolve, including setting clear objectives and, of course, determining appropriate troop levels. But Gibbs notes that Obama won't be pressured into accepting the recommendations of Gen. Stanley McChrystal simply because McChrystal is the senior commander in Afghanistan or because conservative Republicans want to give the general everything he asks for.

Gibbs notes that while McChrystal's views and requests are very important, Obama can't just follow the wishes of the commander in one theater of operations. Instead, the president has broader considerations such as determining the overall needs of the country as he tries to "balance all the national security concerns."

On healthcare, Gibbs says Obama will resist pressure to prematurely take sides in the many struggles on Capitol Hill over specific provisions of the several bills that are making their way through the legislative process. This includes the measure of Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which the panel will vote on next week. And Gibbs says Obama feels no need to "sequence" his decisions on healthcare and Afghanistan in any particular way. Obama will make his decisions as events warrant. "There's not a lot of air traffic control on this," Gibbs says. 

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