Experts remember when another liberal, Lyndon Johnson, decided to escalate the war in Southeast Asia.

"Any analogy to Vietnam certainly does look very pleasant for the Obama situation," said Ohio State professor John Mueller. "It doesn't follow that they're identical by any means, but nonetheless it's a tricky issue."

Mueller is an expert on public opinion and war. He says Obama can learn from LBJ, and the cracking of his political base.

"Both Johnson and Obama came in essentially as anti-war candidates in one form or another. And both then found themselves with a mess on their hands," Mueller told ONN's Jim Heath.

When Obama talks about sending more troops overseas, nowhere will his words be more debated than on college campuses.

"Our economy is already bad enough," said OSU student Travis McCoy. "We're still fighting this war that should have been over a long time ago. And now you're just prolonging it by sending more troops. What's the purpose?"

McCoy, an African American who strongly supported Obama last fall, says he's disappointed. "Coming from Obama, yes I'm disappointed. Extremely."

"They feel betrayed. That may be too strong a term right now, but I think increasingly. The anti-war movement in many respects, the anti-Iraq war movement, was what brought Obama in," Mueller commented.

Student Allison Ortega is willing to give Obama more time.

"In the long run, not increasing it could create a larger troop casualty amount, you know in the end.  So it would be something that you need to see the full picture of to understand where the decision is coming from," Ortega argued.

But student Gage Will has run out of patience.

"I just think it's kinda time for all of this to come to an end," Will said.

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