Count Me As Skeptical

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama recast the U.S. fight against terrorism as no longer a "boundless global war" but a targeted effort to dismantle specific extremist networks.

He said America was at a "crossroads" and should no longer see it as a "self-defeating" perpetual fight, but one that must at some point end, "like all wars."

Obama said "the core of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is on a path to defeat,'' but its affiliates elsewhere pose dangers. He also touched on new overseas and homegrown threats, and explained publicly the use of drones against terror suspects overseas.

For some reason I'm not grasping this.  I do agree the perpetual war agenda is self-defeating, ridiculous and very costly.  But I fail to see how "affiliates else pose dangers" as a refocus of the war is any different in the long term, perpetually speaking of course.

No doubt the Obama administration has waged a much more effective war against al Qeada.  There's no comparing Bush's invasion of a country with nothing to do with 9/11 to Obama locating and killing bin Laden.  No comparison whatsoever.  With that said, the war on terrorism has never been a struggle of military might.  It's always been a struggle of thoughts, ideas, and modernization. Let's hope another refocus of this 12 year war is finally defined in such terms.