This has not been an easy decade. It started off with war, threats of war, and news of war. As the decade draws to a close and Americans continue to suffer from the fatigue of a never-ending war, we need President Obama to answer our questions about where we’re headed in Afghanistan and whether it’s the right direction for America. A recent poll taken by ABC News/Washington Post indicates that support for the war in Afghanistan has reached a new low. Only 44 percent say the war has been worth fighting and 52 percent say it has not been worth it—up 13 points from last December. Other polls indicate that only 37 percent of Americans support escalation of the war.

People have said that President Obama is the greatest orator of his generation. He’s a wordsmith and speeches are his tool of choice. We’ve certainly heard enough of them since he’s taken office—he’s had a bullhorn in hand every day. But the right words have eluded him as he struggles to convince Americans that the administration has the right policy on the war in Afghanistan. There’s an uncomfortable feeling growing among the peasants that the President is using hubris to disguise a lack of clear direction, but the common-folk are notorious for losing patience when their leaders get fuzzy on details.

The President’s approval rating is down and people are concerned about sustaining a costly war during this economic downturn. Elections are won with ideas. Public opinion in times of crisis is won with words, specific ones that use blunt language and common sense. Obama is a gifted rhetorical poet and his speechifying has captivated even the hearts and minds of the French. But the time for Hamlet is over—“that it should come to this,” Shakespeare’s Danish Prince agonizes as he struggles to make sense of his circumstances. While uncertainty may have been a personal quirk of Hamlet, it’s not a trait we want to see in our President. To address the anxiety that’s overcome this country, the time has come when Americans need to hear the bottom-line.

This is the mark of a great president.

In October, 1962, a young president delivered a series of speeches that spoke frankly about the threat of nuclear missiles in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy outlined in clear, precise language the steps he intended to take to keep Americans safe. Unless we hear a message this blunt, how can be certain that, in 2009, another young president has a plan to keep us safe? This fear drives the anxiety that we’re feeling as we watch the dollar plunge and the budget deficit soar.

As an FBI agent working counterintelligence cases, I came to a deep respect for the importance of words. In a trial, FBI agents testify under oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But here’s the tricky part: half-truths are as deceptive as a lie. When interviewing suspects, I found the really good spies were quite adept at answering my questions with just enough truth in their response to shut me up—at least for a while. After I turned it over in my mind, however, I realized that the answer provoked more questions than it answered. Politicians are experts in telling half-truths. “I didn’t lie.” No, but you didn’t tell the whole truth, either. We do the same thing in relationships, tax returns, and resumes.

President Obama has not successfully persuaded Americans that Afghanistan is a war worth fighting. We read the news. We know that Transparency International has bumped Afghanistan up three notches this year to become the second most-corrupt country in the world. In this economic crisis, we have a need to know how billions of taxpayer’s dollars are being invested in Afghanistan.

When we hear a half-truth, it leaves us hanging, not satisfied. We’ve not been lied to, but there is more to the story, and we know it. We hear what we want to hear. And everyone wants to hear something different. This is the stuff of nightly news, political commentators, and late night TV.

Americans will not be persuaded that this country is on the right course until our young president uses his tool of choice and delivers a series of speeches that speak frankly about our policy in Afghanistan. That is has come to this—Hamlet couldn’t have said it better.

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