Afghanistan: Rahm Plays Politics
Gates Pushes Back
I’ve been collecting links on Afghanistan for the last few days. Not the actual war, but the struggles going on within the Obama administration.
Sunday, Bill Kristol had a blog post, Kristol: Reckless Rahm, in which he skewered this statement:
“It would be reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop level if, in fact, you haven’t done a thorough analysis of whether, in fact, there’s an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that the U.S. troops would create and become a true partner in governing the Afghan country.” — White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, on CNN today
Kristol asked:
“Are Sunday talk show declarations by Emanuel and political advisor David Axelrod an appropriate way to announce the considered judgment of the president at this stage of a long Cabinet-level review process? Or is Emanuel end-running the process? Do Secretaries Gates and Clinton agree with Emanuel? Were they consulted before Rahm popped off?”
Monday, in Kristol: Gates Blindsided by Rahm, he confirmed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was taken by surprise by Rahm’s statement. Kristol also had an email from a “former government official”:
Sen. McCain and other supporters of the effort in Afghanistan have feared from the beginning of this process that Whie House politicos were trying to get the pesky military out of the policy loop. Now it appears they are bypassing even the SecDef. Its hard to think of another time when the White House chief of staff and politicos were making policy so independently of the national security team…
Today, FOX News had this headline: Gates: U.S. Cannot Wait for Afghan Election to Make Troop Decision.
Gates suggested the election would not have an immediate impact on the overall situation in the country.
He told reporters aboard his plane to Tokyo that the administration cannot “sit on our hands.”
So you have Rahm putting out the new meme on why Obama can’t yet responsibly make a decision. This meme has also been duly repeated by John Kerry (who must have been reporting for duty to the White House) and Robert Gibbs (whose job consists of repeating memes).
(Interestingly enough, after I wrote the above I looked for more information on Kerry. Instead I found that Rich Lowry has also noted this odd similarity in word repetition.)
Obviously, Gates is furious. Obviously, there are a lot of unanswered questions with this entire scenario. How seriously does Obama take the advice of any of his Cabinet members? Who actually helps set policy and who is a figurehead?
Obama is once again playing politics in a passive aggressive way as he bypasses Gates and has others announce and justify a policy stance.
__________
H/T: Hot Air (for links), The Weekly Standard, The Corner.
[1]
Well, the left never changes. It’s all means to an end, and lives are nothing to them. As awful as this is, as utterly unforgivable as it is for the men and women who are paying the price for this with their blood and limbs, the fact remains that this is how the left works.
And America voted for this. Ignorance and surprise are not excuses, it was all there for anyone to see.
[2]
Perhaps the Generals will save us.
[3]
We will have to do it. We put them in this mess, let us get them out.
[4]
RWY, I was struck with similar thoughts. We’ve read the stories about lives needlessly lost and lower morale, yet the WH is still doing its dysfunctional political game.
Their actions tell you who they are and how much they value American lives.
[5]
The other thing that really got me is that Obama didn’t even discuss or argue this with Gates. Gates was left totally out of the picture.
The passive aggressive lack of direct engagement is so dysfunctional.
[6]
I wonder if Gates is having any second thoughts about accepting a job from Obama. I’m sure Hillary has.
[7]
It’s like Stalin. He was purging the Red Army while trying to hold off the Wehrmacht, even in the fall of 1941 when the Russians were losing a million men a month captured and killed, he was still purging the army of political opponents, real, and imagined.
Remember, to the communists, the internal threat is the most dangerous one. Obama frankly does not give a damn about our armed forces.
His objective is redistribution of wealth and the stripping of individual and property rights down to the minutest possible detail. It’s also quite possible he views the armed forces as a Honduran type threat to his power (Stalin did) and does not mind bashing it with a shovel.
[8]
OT. If you are a Time Warner Cable customer you might want to read this little PSA.
[9]
A war cannot be run from Washington. We have seen this failure play out in Vietnam and Kosovo and Somolia.
Give the general the troops and resources he needs, and get out of his way. If he fails, replace him. The guy on the point of the spear doesn’t give a crap what Rahm said on a Sunday show. He’s getting shot at by the enemy.
Damn!
[10]
The buck stops with this idiot – ‘zero’. And he has done nothing in his life to be prepared to make a decision at this level as a manager and it shows. He dithers while Rome burns and he can not make a decision.
I really fear if something serious happens as this clown has no clue what to do. What would he do if a nuke goes off in LA – confer with his teleprompter. What would he do if a full scale nuclear attack came over the poles – check with Axelrod as to the political fallout.
I am glad that Gates and the generals are speaking out.
[11]
It’s not a matter of running the war from DC, or not running it from DC. You don’t think Obama knows the USmil voted 75-25 for McCain?
[12]
Meanwhile, the other war drags on: Obama’s War on Fox News Becomes a Quagmire
[13]
Obama plainly does not care, it’s not on he priority list. Domestic mayhem is what he cares about.
[14]
Fox News already has a hard hitting commercial up showing their news organization street cred’s. Obama is shooting himself in the foot with this war on Fox.
Something about “ink by the barrel.”
[15]
rwy, your comment #7 is outstanding! thx!
[16]
What would he do if a nuke goes off in LA~~gngang
he would blame it on the right wing extremists, and demand that all the registered voters who no longer exist, be allowed to vote anyway.
[17]
It’s also quite possible he views the armed forces as a Honduran type threat to his power (Stalin did) and does not mind bashing it with a shovel. RWY
That’s why he wants his own “national police force” as a buffer to act as his own private army. Mugabe’s equivalent to the brown shirts.
[18]
Meanwhile, the other war drags on: Obama’s War on Fox News Becomes a Quagmire
Hmmm. Maybe Obammy should exit the WH and retreat ‘over the horizon’ back to Chicago.
I wish.
[19]
That’s why he wants his own “national police force” as a buffer to act as his own private army. Mugabe’s equivalent to the brown shirts.
Rahm, Rolm.
mmm mmm mmm, seig hiel
Americorps, National Socialist SA
Does Beck have the moxie…
[20]
Hey, we can all smoke weed, so that’s good.
Maybe the tens of millions of jobless can grow it for money.
Life, liberty, property?
Nope
vice, corruption, and dependence.
The New America!
[21]
its Röhm isn’t it? Ernst Röhm, SA boss later disposed of by Hitler. Pronounced Rhurm…
[22]
No that’s not right….
[23]
I guess this is why there are 7+ million alcoholics in Russia, and the average Russian consumes 27 litres of vodka a year.
Salud.
[24]
You gringo’s want a steeenking banana republic, we’ll give you one.
[25]
To pronounce ö, you have to say o and e at the same time.
[26]
Ernst Röhm,==turd burgler.
[27]
Start your lips saying O, then actually say E. That’s as close as you English will come to getting it.
[28]
You guys sound like Steve Martin in the Pink Panther.
“ham.booog.erh”
[29]
Yeah, many Nazis were perverts and deviants, and Hitler was conservative in that regard. He preferred a woman, one only, at a time.
The Nazis were always corrupt as well, and could be charged and executed at any time for crimes against the state, but Hitler was not like Stalin in this regard, he was remarkably lenient and tolerant of political dissent among his peers, once he had consolidated power.
before then, that was a different story.
Anyway, most leading nazis were paranoid and maintained their own personal security details, in case they were double crossed by each other. It actually happened, but less than you might have imagined.
[30]
Is there any entity this party won’t alienate? The dimwits are looking to lose big many seats next year and its as if this administration is daring the GOP to take even more of their seats.
Obama has turned into the “all-in” president. With each hand he throws everything he has into the pot. Given, he had a huge stack to begin with, but so far every one of his all-ins have met with disaster and his chip stack has dwindled to such a level that nobody at the table is afraid of him any more.
[31]
good analogy, ct.
[32]
Which is why, when they realize how screwed they are in the late summer early fall of 2010, they will go all out for amnesty, because that will be all that can save them, except for declaring martial law.
Which would create more blowback for them?
[33]
Martial law isn’t going to sit well with a 230 year old country founded on freedom.
But then again, we are not the country we once were.
A few of us maybe.
[34]
Yeah. The wrecked economy might do Ogabe in all by itself. JokeLeaf notwithstanding….
[35]
they will go all out for amnesty, because that will be all that can save them, except for declaring martial law. RWY
Or it might go the other way,by opposing amnesty they hope to regain favor from the sheeple and be re elected.
[36]
Amnesty will be too late to matter (most just want to work not vote) and martial law wont be tolerated. But I would not put anything past them to get or manufacture a crisis. The fear is that they will miscalculate and over reach setting up a mexican standoff.
[37]
OT, Anybody heard of a self steering tractor?
[38]
RWY, it shouldn’t take a total collapse of the economy to do Captain Bullshit in. A slow roasting of voters at 10%-plus unemployment (yeah, I realize the actual figure is much higher) throughout 2010 should do it.
My fear of fears is that the populace will slowly begin to forget that things don’t have to be so bad. When that happens, the frog will have been successfully boiled.
[39]
MPT,
It will be a combination of factors that does Capn’ BS in. High employment, self induced high energy prices, and out of control HC costs will crater the economy. People will ask ‘for the pain, what have we gained?’
That’s when the Capn’ joins us in the pot.
[40]
What is the psych term for somebody that is afraid of success so they do things in life that makes themselves fail? That is Obama in a nutshell.
There are some simple things that Obama could do that would add 20 points to his favorables in a month.
[41]
mpt, the White House narrative has already started spinning that 10% unemployment is the new NORM! The way 5% used to be. So far the media (except Fox) hasn’t even said “HUH??”
Then, of course, with high unemployment comes an even larger group FULLY DEPENDANT on government handouts just to survive.
I truly believe the Obama Regime desires the economic destruction, since it gives them more true power to wield.
[42]
Tony, I think Obama is a true narcissist. That mean rigid, rigid control so that everything will reflect well on him. I think that’s why he seems to frequently go for broke and why he has such a tough time compromising.
[43]
Justrand, I agree on the spin.
[44]
They can spin all they want but it will do them no good.
When there is a 5% unemployment rate (which is fairly normal) people get ansty. They may not be hit by the unemployment and they may not know someone unemployed but they feel bad for those unemployed and blame those in power.
Today we have a 10% rate with an actual rate closer to 16-17%. If this keeps up, which they expect – the dems are doomed. Why, because everyone knows people hurting from this down turn and the dems will get the blame. They can say it was Bush or the Republicans but ENOUGH people will blame the dems and zero to bring the Republicans back.
As Reagan would say – “are you better today than you were 2 or 3 years ago?”
[45]
INC
The first thought that comes to mind after reading your comment is his daughters. At what age do they start rebelling?
Oh wait, mine is 12 so nevermind.
[46]
White House narrative has already started spinning that 10% unemployment is the new NORM!
Yeah, and Bill Clinton didn’t have sex with that woman (not speaking of Hillary).
[47]
Obama, Where’s the beef?
[48]
“http://thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=4221″
–
Wow now that was some very funny writing, the comments were hilarious too.
What’s not hilarious is the president dragging his feet on this topic, I suspect this is not about nov. 7th at all like the spinning turd are saying but all about about nov 3rd.
[49]
And each day the blood of the US soldiers continues to flow because THE ZERO does not know how to make a decision and would rather go play basketball then do the job of CIC.