America on Deadline.

AFFECT (Psychology); AGITATION (Psychology); OBAMA, Barack, 1961-

AFGHANISTAN; UNITED States

EVERYONE knows the power of deadlines -- and we all hate them. But their effectiveness is undeniable. People procrastinate. Deadlines help. They speed up performance and, paradoxically, reduce the anxiety of uncertainty. So when President Obama announced on Tuesday night a strict timetable of 18 months before the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan -- how did that affect the psychology of the nation? The emotional effect of the pronouncement depends on the party involved. For the military brass, 18 months is a blink of an eye, so the deadline could motivate them to perform at their peak, or it might paralyze them with fear; for the troops and their loved ones, 18 months is an eternity. But for all those with an immediate stake in the war, a clear timetable reduces uncertainty -- at least along the ''when'' dimension, if not the ''what'' dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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