Score One For Obama
Obama Keeps Defense Secretary Robert Gates
Defense Secretary Robert Gates will keep the top Pentagon job for at least the first year of the Obama administration.
There was very strong support for Gates among Democrats, said one Democratic source in the Senate whose boss was intimately involved in bringing Obama and Gates together to see if they were compatible.
Obama's decision to keep Gates follows speculation, encouraged before the election by Obama's aides, that Gates would stay on for an interim period.
A registered independent, Gates has served various Republican administrations. President Bush nominated Gates to replace Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, when the war in Iraq was descending into chaos and became a political liability for Republicans.
Gates will continue to preside over two U.S. wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, that Bush launched as part of the larger war on terror.
There are several issues on which Gates and Obama disagree, including missile defense. Gates supports placing a missile defense system in Europe, but Obama already has suggested that he won't sign off on it until the technology has been proven capable.
A formal announcement is expected immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as part of an unveiling of the new national security team, which is expected to include Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state; Marine Gen. Jim Jones as national security adviser, Admiral Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence and Susan Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Story Here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is Barack Obama finally beginning to get the idea that we cant just pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan willy nilly? Is he beginning to understand the nature of the danger we face if we do, that the terrorist's will have safe haven's to plot and plan to attack us again? And that we would have to go right back to Iraq should it decend into chaos? Is Obama beginning to see the underlying danger that Iran poses to the United States? I surely hope so. But I do applaud this decision!
Defense Secretary Robert Gates will keep the top Pentagon job for at least the first year of the Obama administration.
There was very strong support for Gates among Democrats, said one Democratic source in the Senate whose boss was intimately involved in bringing Obama and Gates together to see if they were compatible.
Obama's decision to keep Gates follows speculation, encouraged before the election by Obama's aides, that Gates would stay on for an interim period.
A registered independent, Gates has served various Republican administrations. President Bush nominated Gates to replace Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, when the war in Iraq was descending into chaos and became a political liability for Republicans.
Gates will continue to preside over two U.S. wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, that Bush launched as part of the larger war on terror.
There are several issues on which Gates and Obama disagree, including missile defense. Gates supports placing a missile defense system in Europe, but Obama already has suggested that he won't sign off on it until the technology has been proven capable.
A formal announcement is expected immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as part of an unveiling of the new national security team, which is expected to include Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state; Marine Gen. Jim Jones as national security adviser, Admiral Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence and Susan Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Story Here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is Barack Obama finally beginning to get the idea that we cant just pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan willy nilly? Is he beginning to understand the nature of the danger we face if we do, that the terrorist's will have safe haven's to plot and plan to attack us again? And that we would have to go right back to Iraq should it decend into chaos? Is Obama beginning to see the underlying danger that Iran poses to the United States? I surely hope so. But I do applaud this decision!
posted by Marie's Two Cents | 12:21 PM
8 Comments:
I think he always knew that, Marie. He played the far-left to win them over, then threw them under the bus with everyone else he already threw under there. Now it's getting really interesting, isn't it? This guy has changed postitions so often I can't figure out who he is. I'm still waiting to find out. I'm glad about Gates though. That is a surprise!
Here's hoping you had a great Thanksgiving! :)
Regardless of my personal opinions on Gates.. I think that Obama is showing himself to be a man who does not stick to his word. The leftist illuminati spouted "change" so much that now it's obvious that isn't going to happen.
What "e" said in spades!
G'morin my friend :)..I dont believe a thing he does is for righteous reasons though!
It's simple, Marie. Obama knows he isn't going to find a competent defense specialist among the Democrats. If he really intends to bring the troops home he knows he will have to have a real man call them home, otherwise, they won't believe him.
Gayle,
Gate's Is the only decision he has made that is worthwhile.
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
e,
Actually e, I think Gates is the only smart decision this man has made as of yet!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frank The Carpenter,
LOL! Love that name
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angel,
I dont either hun!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark,
Obviously Obama hasn't a clue as to what is going on in Iraq or Afghanistan, and needs someone who has been running this war for a while, pushed for the surge that worked that Obama opposed (What a Moron) and you are right there is no one on the left that know what the hell is going on either!
I am happy about this pick because it's driving the left Bizzerk!
Marie, for the record, Gates opposed the "surge" and is known to favor the foreign policy approach from the wing of the Bush the Elder that favors engagement, or talking with our enemies, including Iran ans Syria.
This would include people like former Secretary of State Jim Baker and Former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft.
Both of these men were contributors and mostly supporters of the work of the Iraq Study Group which was widely critical of current President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and his middle east diplomacy.
It should also be noted that the current Bush Administration has finalized a date certain agreement with the Iraqi's for American Military forces to leave that country, inherently putting in place a timetable for withdrawal, something GOP partisans have argued was wrong headed and was in fact surrender whenever it was brought up before the elections.
Secretary Gates, as you noted, a fine choice for Obama, is largely responsible for that agreement. It is no wonder Obama rightly chose to keep him on, they both agreed with the need to set a withdrawal time line in place. However, I am sure Obama wanted a much quicker withdrawal.
Dave,
Not only did Sec. Gates "Not" oppose the surge, he pushed for it. When General Casey wanted 8,000 more Troops Sec. Gates Chose to Listen to and put in charge General David Patraeus to oversee this operation becuase Gen. Patraeus was a specialist in "Counterinsurgency" and asked for at the least 20,000 more Troops.
Sec. Gates only problem with the surge was he thought the Military was being strtched to thin, but in the end he decided it had to be done and it worked and we won.
Sec. Gates also broke from his own policy of Talking with our enemies, especially Iran because he felt we needed more leverage over them, that we didnt have and still dont.
Sec. Gates also had to go through a grueling Senate hearing asking for more money for the Troops, which he eventually won.
Also he toured Walter Reed Medical Center and said "This is unacceptable" and pushed for funds to pull Walter Reed back up to standards.
Of course this is a wonderful pick by Obama, because he doesn' have the slightest clue what he is doing!
This is a good read on Robert Gates
Post a Comment
<< Home