Mediaguy, I think you have it right. Obama now has the "moral authority" to properly pull the plug on the significantly unpopular "War in the 'stans", while also having the moral high ground on being able to cut off Pakistan and others from support money. That will play well, as Bring The Boys Back Home is one of the better themes for any sitting President.
If the US draws down to about half the current forces in the area, and "plans" to pull the rest out in a reasonable time frame, the public will be all for it. Obama will also be able to use a sort of peace benefit to work on balancing the budgeting going forward, as they will be able to pull some funding away from the military because they are using less expendables in the field, and can get rid of the stop lossing that has kept the force larger than it would have been otherwise.
It all plays very well for Obama. Mission actually accomplished, getting on the sunny side of the 10 year memorial of 9/11, and being able to show progress on run away military spending. The Republicans will be very hard pressed to find a candidate that could beat that "record". Palin sure wouldn't pull it off, Trump has already birthered himself out of the running, and the rest of the potential candidates are no-names and retreads.
4 more years of Obama, and then maybe Clinton II.
