Anonymous Coward User ID: 1016406 United States 06/26/2010 05:16 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire
He may have been hailed for his decisiveness, but Barack Obama sacked the wrong man and has yet to sort out his Afghanistan policy, writes Toby Harnden in Washington Published: 4:37PM BST 26 Jun 2010
For the Washington cognoscenti, the appointment of General David Petraeusmarked the crescendo of President Barack Obama's Wonderful Week.
In firing General Stanley McChrystal, Mr Obama, the ultimate cool cat, was transformed into Mr Angry. The law professor finally became commander-in-chief.
Obama, so the Beltway groupthink goes, turned a lose-lose situation into a political victory by asserting his authority over an insubordinate steely-eyed killer and replacing him with the ultimate warrior-scholar. He showed the doubters he was tough, and he traded up. How wrong the conventional wisdom can be. Obama's actions in dragging McChrystal back to Washington and personally sacking him in as dramatic a fashion as possible in fact displayed weakness.
It has not escaped the attention of the anti-war Left that although firing McChrystal was justified as a way of asserting civilian control over the military, the result is the opposite. Petraeus is a much more popular figure than Obama and has deeper ties across the full spectrum of the Washington establishment than any general since Colin Powell.
The reality is that Petraeus can pretty much do what he wants now.
So Obama would do well to avoid congratulating himself on winning last week's news cycle by brutally ending McChrystal's illustrious career.
He has further alienated the broader military constituency and done nothing to curtail the in-fighting among his top foreign policy officials. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 995682 United States 06/26/2010 05:19 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. he is no leader, he is however a Tyrant with all of the power he needs at his disposal , so beware any and all who critize him..
Doom, doom I tell you |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 1016406 United States 06/26/2010 05:22 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. Obama does not have the support of the electorate that renders him impotent. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 842974 United States 06/26/2010 05:32 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. op..have you been in the military?...I already know that you have not...this guy is lucky he didnt get court marshalled....no fan of obama..but that general had to go. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 847197 United States 06/26/2010 05:34 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. mccrystal resigned, just sayin. shows obama is losing the miitary. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 860438 United States 06/26/2010 05:36 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. everything he has done shows weakness. |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 1016406 United States 06/26/2010 05:37 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire.
You have no idea of my relationship to the military. If I told you, I would have to well you know the rest. Anyway Obama made a complete buffoon of himself ignoring Gates advice. And Obama will pay the price. |
Olibow
User ID: 769657 United States 06/26/2010 05:39 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. He's never shown anything BUT weakness. he's like that guy that knows how to answer interview questions but has no clue how to do the job. ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~ From ED TV (1999)
I feel that Ed (TV) is the apotheosis of a prevailing American syndrome. It used to be that someone became famous because they were special. Now people are considered special just for being famous. Fame, itself, is now a moral good in this country. It's its own virtue. |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 1016406 United States 06/26/2010 05:40 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. he's like that guy that knows how to answer interview questions but has no clue how to do the job. Exactly. |
Reality Is B.S
User ID: 1016669 United States 06/26/2010 05:42 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. The whole episode seemed fake. Throwing more erroneous useless information into the original arguement. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 842974 United States 06/26/2010 05:48 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. You have no idea of my relationship to the military. If I told you, I would have to well you know the rest.
Anyway Obama made a complete buffoon of himself ignoring Gates advice. And Obama will pay the price.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1016406your just a douche op...no idea of military code...for if you did you would know that this general was point blank wrong. |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 1016406 United States 06/26/2010 05:55 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. Obama is a buffoon and everyone knows it. Look at his poll numbers. |
Abhra
User ID: 989233 United States 06/26/2010 05:58 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. The weirdest thing Firing a U.S. General one day Having lunch with Russian President The next day At 'Raise Hell' restaurant |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 847197 United States 06/26/2010 06:05 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Barack Obama's firing of Stanley McChrystal showed weakness and will backfire. The weirdest thing Firing a U.S. General one day Having lunch with Russian President The next day At 'Raise Hell' restaurant Quoting: Abhra'Raise Hell' nice! Didn't put that together. No wonder that's where he does his photo ops. |