with his decision. In trying to separate himself from the experience of Johnson, however, Obama did not give an accurate account of what many commentators have been saying recently, and he downplayed crucial aspects of the 1960s that do in fact offer warnings for today. Mark Twain once said that history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Most of those who have compared Afghanistan to Vietnam do not say that the situations were exactly the same politically or strategically. Nor is it inevitable that the surge in Afghanistan will be unsuccessful. The point of the comparison is that it is impossible to ignore the fact that Obama faces similar challenges, as did Johnson when the Americanization of Vietnam began in the spring of 1965. Both presidents entered the war despite the fact that many top advisers in the White House and in Congress were strongly warning against escalation. In 1964, Johnson heard from voices ranging from Idaho liberal Frank Church to Georgia hawk Richard Russell that Vietnam was not critical to fighting communism and that the war was unwinnable. Their warnings proved to be accurate. Going into this decision, Obama heard comparable criticism as well. Both presidents also expanded the war just as they were trying to shape a broad domestic agenda. Johnson was much further ahead of the game when he increased the number of ground troops in the war that he