[Guest post by DRJ]
The AP reports Barack Obama will keep Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense for at least a year. That’s good news for Iraq and the US military because it should provide stability during the transition and the early days of an Obama Administration.
Watching Obama act like a Bush Republican is surreal, although I know it won’t last. It must seem like the Twilight Zone to his supporters.
— DRJ
Pronounced "Patter-EE-koh"
E-mail: Just use my moniker Patterico, followed by the @ symbol, followed by gmail.com
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Obama the indecisive pragmatist displaces Obama the positive rights zealot. I am relieved every day I see more evidence that he is the former, and less that he is what I had expected.
Amphipolis (e6b868) — 11/25/2008 @ 7:39 pmHis supporters, for the most part, never really cared much about Iraq anyway. They simply found it expedient to pretend that they did for political reasons.
Subotai (6e15e8) — 11/25/2008 @ 8:17 pmThis is a good thing. Gates is the “knower of all things” in relation to the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. Continuity in the prosecution of these wars is definitely necessary.
With all that is wrong with Obama the person, this is right.
rls (14b9d3) — 11/25/2008 @ 8:18 pmSeems like only last month the Republicans were calling Obama nasty things like “Marxist” and “Socialist.”
What a difference a month makes.
parsnip (1e884c) — 11/25/2008 @ 8:21 pmHe’s more afraid of being called “Carter” than either Marxist or Socialist.
Al (b624ac) — 11/25/2008 @ 8:24 pmEven a blind squirrel gets lucky once in a while and finds a nut! I’m glad to see some common sense here, but I’m not holding my breath either. But at the end of the day, he is going to be my President of my Country, so I wish him well. (We’re so screwed.) Guns, ammo, canned food and water boys and girls, get ready for a bumpy ride.
J. Raymond Wright (0440ef) — 11/25/2008 @ 8:47 pmThe far-left is going to eat it’s self…
Scott Jacobs (90ff96) — 11/25/2008 @ 8:49 pmDelightful! I hope he hires Rumsfeld for something, too.
Patricia (ee5c9d) — 11/25/2008 @ 8:53 pmI thought the progressives said we lost the election and needed to start sucking up to the dirty socialist.
WTF?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 11/25/2008 @ 9:05 pmI think it makes perfect sense to keep Secretary Gates in place; Obama is just being pragmatic. Gates has not been an ideologue the past two years. He has demonstrated competence, held subordinates accountable, and proven adept at operating in DC.
Most importantly of all, keeping a steady hand at DOD gives the new administration cover to focus on an ambitious domestic agenda.
If Obama is going to spend political capital, he will do so by expanding entitlement programs, especially Health Care, not by appeasing the idealists who see his election as the repudiation of every last second of the past 8 years.
Bob W (e9bf3b) — 11/25/2008 @ 9:33 pmBut he still hasn’t met with Gen. Patreus.
David in San Diego (23f226) — 11/25/2008 @ 10:34 pmJuggy is a duplicitous sack of shit: i don’t believe anything he says and i question any and all announced actions as suspect until proven otherwise by an extended historical review of the results.
that and he’s not *my* president. he belongs to the fools who voted for him.
redc1c4 (27fd3e) — 11/25/2008 @ 11:17 pmnull
payal (47ace5) — 11/25/2008 @ 11:33 pmI voted for Obama, and so far nothing he’s done has surprised me. Despite all the hype from both sides, he was a boring, cautious candidate, and I expect the same from his presidency.
Nels (3e56d7) — 11/26/2008 @ 2:47 amObama got elected by using a twist on the old ’92 Clinton theme of “change”; Bill Clinton turned out to be essentially a center-left president, partially due to the fact that he got slammed by the voters in ’94 for going too far left. If Obama has any sense at all, he will take heed to this, and I would expect a left-leaning administration which tries to stay a bit centered. Whether he is remembered as another Carter or Clinton remains to be seen. He certainly won’t be a JFK, FDR, RFK, MLK, Lincoln or any other noteworthy historical figure — unless he dies in office/gets assassinated.
Mark Turner (c6b144) — 11/26/2008 @ 3:13 amThat’s a moronic argument that I would expect from people in Berkley had McCain won.
You don’t like it, I’m not thrilled by it, but he IS the President Elect, and he WILL be your President.
Suck it up, and cut the whiny crap. There’s work what needs doing if we’re going to survive the coming years despite their best efforts.
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 11/26/2008 @ 5:25 amI wonder if Obama will continue to “Air Raid” villages and kill innocent civilians?
Friggin Marxist liar!
PCD (7fe637) — 11/26/2008 @ 6:12 amDid I see you say “like a Bush Republican”?
Obama as a Bush Republican?
Now that is nonsense! Obama is or will be the brightest President we have had in decades as opposed to one of the dumbest we have had to put up with for the past 8 years.
This just in from a registered and disgusted Republican:
Bush and his right-wing extremist cronies in the Republican Party “displayed” their intelligence during the election and campaign. We saw pure Rove negative crappola and very few ideas on display by McCain and Palin. The American voters watched in vain for an intelligent thought, saw none, and voted accordingly.
Phil Wiggle (1d088a) — 11/26/2008 @ 7:17 amGee Phil, thanks for yet another redundant Trollbot posting for the great unwashed. But you should look up some new material, that stuff is way past the sell – by date.
Dmac (e30284) — 11/26/2008 @ 7:35 am*runs the checklist*
PHIL! Damnit man, you left out “Bush lied, people died” and “No blood for oil”!!
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 11/26/2008 @ 7:56 am“The American voters watched in vain for an intelligent thought, saw none, and voted accordingly.”
Yes, for Change. Change we can count on. Very Intelligent.
BOT: Gates has done an admirable job. The One understands by keeping Gates he can still blame Bush for any fiascos under his watch while taking credit for any success. Smart politics by the One — a win-win.
Da'Shiznit (089453) — 11/26/2008 @ 8:39 am“… Gates has not been an ideologue the past two years…”
Comment by Bob W — 11/25/2008 @ 9:33 pm
Gee, Bob. When was he an ideologue?
Another Drew (67f3cf) — 11/26/2008 @ 9:35 am“The One understands by keeping Gates he can still blame Bush for any fiascos under his watch while taking credit for any success.”
Shiz – He doesn’t need to keep Gates to adopt that strategy.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 11/26/2008 @ 9:48 amNo not surreal.
Right now defense is not a priority, but the economy is.
Oiram (983921) — 11/26/2008 @ 10:42 amLet’s see,Obama:
Voted for FISA(with telecom immunity),whenthe program was implemented under Bush the liberals wanted to impeach him over it.He was Trampling and tearing up the Constitution.
Obama votes for it and everything is okay.
Obama’s advisors have stated that he will keep open the CIA’s use of interrogation that was used under Bush.
Like FISA,when Bush did it,it was a war crime.
Obama is for it and it will be an”intelligent show of strength”.
Obama will not investigate(with the DOJ) the interrogation methods/CIA prisons and other intelligence that was involved in processing and gaining information from terrorist.
Liberals have spent years running around in their orange suits and calling Bush a terrorist,torturer,and war criminal.
Now like their “Bush lied” impeachment frenzy concerning pre-war intelligence,the democrats have the power to back up all their cries and propaganda by putting it to the test with facts and convicting with said facts,and it turns out to be just another idiotic liberal rant.
What to do with all those orange jumpsuits and “Bush is a war criminal” shirts.
Obama is going to keep the troops in Iraq based on conditions on the ground and advice from the military.Just like Bush has always said.
(We will stand down as the Iraqis stand up).
The new status of forces agreement states that even at the deadline,if the troops need to stay,they will be asked to do so.
Obama has gone from withdrawal in Jan.07,to withdrawal 16 months after he is elected,to staying based on conditions on the ground.
Now Obama is keeping on a man(Gates) who has helped “Bush’s imperialistic blood for oil,Haliburton’s illegal war machine that is bombing innocent civilians,and whose military is killing civilians in cold blood.”
Combining this with liberals being wrong about Iraq not being winnable,shia/sunni would never get along,going through the UN/EU is the answer(Rwanda,Darfur,oil for food,Lebanon,rampant sex crimes from peace keepers,Iran about to acquire a nuclear bomb etc…etc..etc.) the eco-fundamentalist failure to get the world to buy into their “carbon credits” and the world is going to end if we don’t stop having babies and keep cows from farting drivel,it is getting harder and harder to see where liberals can claim this “intelligent elitist” status they continually pat themselves on the back with.
Liberals bowed down on their knees making Obama
their savior of all the world and end up getting
FOUR MORE YEARS OF BUSH.
It is not going to take 20 years of history to show how right Bush was in so many areas,Obama is going to show that in just 4 short years.
Baxter Greene (8035ae) — 11/26/2008 @ 1:01 pm