White House decision on Afghanistan may take a while, but not one on healthcare

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President Barack Obama, delaying a 10-day trip to Asia by a day so he can travel to Ft. Hood, Texas, on Tuesday to take part in a memorial for those killed in the shooting rampage there, also will be taking his time with a decision about the deployment of additional troops in Afghanistan. But the president won’t need much time at all, the White House says, to sign any worthy healthcare bill that Congress sends him by the year-end deadline he has set.

On Tuesday, in Texas, Obama will meet with the families of the 13 killed in an alleged attack by an Army psychiatrist who faced deployment to Afghanistan, a major and a Muslim who is reported to have uttered that God is great before opening fire on fellow soldiers last week. Obama also plans to address the public memorial service.

The president also will hold another meeting in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday about the way forward for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, pushing back until Thursday his trip to Asia for a summit of Pacific-rim nations with stops in Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore. As for any announcement about the U.S. strategy and deployments, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today: “It is doubtful that it will happen prior to Thursday.’’

What about a Christmas deadline for a healthcare bill signing, now that the House has passed one and the president is calling on the Senate to ‘pick up the baton?’

“Well, I can assure you, if we get a bill out of the Senate and the House somewhere around Christmas, the president won’t take a lot of time in trying to sign,’ Gibbs said. ‘... Understand, if I say he’s going to sign it, let’s assume conference has happened, right? Let’s assume we’ve got a bill that is ready for the president. ... We’ve been doing this for how many months? ... And when we say the end of the year, we’ve got a pretty firm end-of-the-year deadline.’’

See the full take on Gibbs’ talk on Afghanistan and healthcare in the Swamp.

-- Mark Silva