Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has been on a roll lately. First, he did the right thing by endorsing President Obama during the election even though he's a Republican. Now, he's dispensing some good advice to the president about how to proceed in Afghanistan.

Maybe he's trying to atone for his misleading arguments in favor of the Iraq War to the U.N. Security Council in 2003. Either way, maybe his comments will inject common sense and patience into the debate.

Speaking on the 'Tom Joyner Morning Show' on Wednesday, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said:

Mr. President, don't get pushed by the left to do nothing and don't get pushed by the right to do everything. You take your time and you figure it out. You're the commander-in-chief, and this is what you're elected for.

The right, led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, has accused President Obama of "dithering" on his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. Of course, Cheney conveniently forgot that he and former President George W. Bush ignored Afghanistan in favor of a questionable war in Iraq.

The left, after supporting President Obama's campaign rhetoric that he would withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible and focus on Afghanistan, is now questioning the prospects of success for a troop surge there.

Powell has framed Obama's dilemma perfectly:

What I have advised him is to not be rushed in to a decision, because this one is the decision that will have consequences for years to come. If you decide to send more troops or if that's what you feel is necessary, make sure you have a good understanding of what those troops are going to be doing and some assurance that the additional troops will be successful. You can't guarantee success in a very complex theater like Afghanistan, and increasingly with the Pakistan problem next door, but you have to have some sense of what these additional troops will be able to do.

As Powell points out, the situation on the ground in Afghanistan must also be taken into consideration:

And, third, you gotta make sure that you are putting this commitment on a solid base and the base is a little soft right now. We've got a president in Afghanistan that had a rough election with a lot of corruption associated with the election...a lot of corruption in the government. ... And so the president has to measure that...what kind of base is he putting this new strategy on? ... And it's made, as I said a moment ago, it's made particularly difficult because of the unstable situation along the Pakistan border.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that three of President Obama's top advisers are in favor of sending at least 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. It seems highly unlikely that Obama would decide against it, but he is wisely pressing for more answers and trying to examine different scenarios.

According to the New York Times:

Mr. Obama is to consider four final options in a meeting with his national security team on Wednesday, his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told reporters. The options outline different troop levels, other officials said, but they also assume different goals -- including how much of Afghanistan the troops would seek to control -- and different time frames and expectations for the training of Afghan security forces.

I'm glad that President Obama is taking his time to make a tough decision. Maybe if George W. Bush had done the same, this country would be in better shape.