CHAIN OF COMMAND: President Obama huddles with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in the White House Situation Room, April 2011. The White House
The Wars of Robert Gates -- Robert Gates, Wall Street Journal
On Afghanistan, Obama was caught between his generals' advice and his advisers' political worries
I had been the secretary of defense for just over two years on Jan. 21, 2009, but on that day I again became the outsider. The Obama administration housed a web of long-standing relationships—from Democratic Party politics and the Clinton administration—about which I was clueless. I was also a geezer in the new administration. Many influential appointees below the top level, especially in the White House, had been undergraduates—or even in high school—when I had been CIA director. No wonder my nickname in the White House soon was Yoda, the ancient Jedi teacher in "Star Wars."
For the first several months, it took a lot of discipline to sit quietly at the table as everyone from President Obama on down took shots at President Bush and his team. Sitting there, I would often think to myself, Am I invisible?
During these excoriations, there was never any acknowledgment that I had been an integral part of that earlier team. Discussions in the Situation Room allowed no room for discriminating analysis: Everything was awful, and Obama and his team had arrived just in time to save the day.
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My Comment: A part of me hopes and prayers that Robert Gate's analysis on the Obama administration is wrong .... but he was in the inside privy to everything .... in short .... he saw and heard everything. The only question that Robert Gate's has not answered (and one that I would love to hear) is why did he not resign earlier and/or why did he not refuse President Obama's request to stay at the Pentagon for a few more years.?
5 comments:
Considering the context of the book and the general theme seems to be patriotism; one can imagine that there's two reasons why he didn't resign.
1. If you could believe it, he was doing his duty. Perhaps he felt he wanted to stay on to try and correct the wrongs the administration was doing and also to catalogue them for his memoirs, if you believed that.
2. He's most likely a career man.
Considering the context of the book and the general theme seems to be patriotism; one can imagine that there's two reasons why he didn't resign.
1. If you could believe it, he was doing his duty. Perhaps he felt he wanted to stay on to try and correct the wrongs the administration was doing and also to catalogue them for his memoirs, if you believed that.
2. He's most likely a career man.
Number two is probably the number one reason.
One thing I noticed is the very strong political paranoia of these people about almost anything.
Sorry I am, Gates. Yoda you are not!
No Yoda would be affected by invisibility. No Siva would be too proud to listen to his 'undergraduate and high school' infant son who in his infinite wisdom can lecture the 'creator and destroyer' of the cosmos.
Zen Mind; Beginners Mind.
Q.E.D.
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