I like what Bricho has to say here. I think the decision was more than political. We know that Gandalf had a teacher-student relationship with Faramir, and we know that the two knew eachother. Gandalf most likely wouldn't have been able to deal with knowing he could have saved Gondor's last Steward, a friend, a man well beyond his years in wisdom.
Gandalf probably thought that the battle would indeed need his aid, but, I'm going to say Gandalf understood the concept of fate, and what was supposed to happen would eventually unfold. Gandalf had faith. The only choice was to save Faramir from the madness of his father.
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"Loud and clear it sounds in the valleys of the hills...and then let all the foes of Gondor flee!" -Boromir, The Fellowship of the Ring
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