CQ: Obama Counting On Skelton "To Be a Leader of Centrists" On Afghanistan

Congressional Quarterly reported today (subscription required) that Rep. Ike Skelton will play an important role in the Congressional debate on Afghanistan. 

As President Obama seeks to sell his escalation of the Afghanistan War to a skeptical Congress, House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton will almost surely emerge as a pivotal figure.

Because of the 77-year-old Missouri Democrat’s position in the center of the debate, Obama will count on him to be a leader of centrists whose votes are critical to securing funding for the expanded war effort...

Skelton gave Obama a boost Dec. 4 when, in remarks at a forum hosted by the American Security Project, a defense think tank, he backed the president’s target for commencing a withdrawal. Skelton said that date is only the start of the withdrawal, and that its pace would be driven by the degree of stability in Afghanistan. “To me it looks like this is a case where there isn’t much to complain about,” he said.

But a lack of complaints doesn’t mean Skelton doesn’t have questions. When McChrystal, the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, testifies before the Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, one question will be uppermost in Skelton’s mind: What would success in Afghanistan look like?

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