HERE COME THE GROWN-UPS - AT 5:04 P.M. ET:  There are children in politics, and there are grown-ups.  Very often we have to call on the grown-ups after the children have spilt their milk and messed up the place.

Sometimes, however, the children make far more than minor mischief.  Sometimes they cost lives, as when children dither and waste time when important questions of war and peace are involved.  We're in such a time now, as the president of the United States cannot seem to decide on a course in southern Asia.  As Fox News reports, problems requiring adult judgment stand in his way:

An ongoing hostage standoff in Pakistan is adding to growing concerns about the stability of that nuclear-armed country as President Obama decides whether to shift U.S. focus to Pakistan or ramp up the war in Afghanistan.

Further complicating U.S. relations with Pakistan, a key ally in the region, is the Pakistani military's hostility toward conditions recently attached to a nearly $2 billion aid package.

Military advisers are pushing Obama to increase manpower in Afghanistan to battle the Taliban, but some other advisers reportedly are suggesting that the U.S. should consider allowing the Taliban into a political role in Afghanistan's future so that the U.S. can turn its attention toward eliminating roots of the Al Qaeda threat in Pakistan.

But the new violence in Pakistan could undercut any concessions being considered for the Taliban.

"What happened today in Pakistan should encourage [Obama] to follow the advice of the military because they know better the strength of the Taliban," Walid Phares, a terrorism analyst and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told FOXNews.com.

COMMENT:  It is perfectly evident from news reports that Obama and his leftist followers are looking for a cheap way out in southern Asia.  If their strategy fails, after all, they can always blame BUSH (!!). 

But conditions are deteriorating in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.  There is no cheap way out.  But a president who has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize will not be inclined to take the expensive, and correct course.  In an administration where image is everything, courage will not do.

October 10, 2009