Anyone who didn't believe that Obama's liberal idiocy on foreign policy wouldn't have real world consequences, I present exhibit "A" - the Taliban responding to the Administration's offer for "honorable reconciliation:"

Taliban insurgents reject a U.S. offer of "honorable reconciliation," a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a "lunatic idea" and saying the only way to end the war was to withdraw foreign troops.

With the Afghan conflict now in its eighth year, NATO-led forces and the Taliban are locked in a bloody stalemate with violence set to rise further this year as more U.S. troops arrive and seek to contain the insurgency ahead of August elections.

President Barack Obama is redoubling U.S. efforts with more troops, more diplomatic effort and more economic assistance, but he has also already spoken of the need for an "exit strategy."

If the U.S. plan fails to show results, analysts say, time is on the Taliban side.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an international conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday that those members of the Taliban who abandoned extremism must be granted an "honorable form of reconciliation."

"This matter was also raised in the past," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, referring to comments last month by Obama, who spoke of reaching out to moderate Taliban.

"They have to go and find the moderate Taliban, their leader and speak to them. This is a lunatic idea," Mujahid said by telephone from an unknown location.

Like the North Vietnamese in the 1970's, the Taliban have taken the mettle of their opponent and found it wanting. They know all they have to do to win is wait for Obama to grow tired of the effort and pull US troops from the conflict. NATO will almost certainly follow suit which would leave the Afghans at the Taliban's mercy. The country would fall into their lap like a ripe plum.

To have this neophyte in charge of American foreign policy is a tragedy. The question we will be asking soon is how much damage this rookie can cause before America wises up and tosses he and his gaffe prone team.