The Politics Blog: 10 Essential Truths of the Petraeus-McChrystal Switch
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 5:35PM 
Well, well, well — where have we seen this before? The indiscreet U.S. commander whose tongue digs his own grave. The stunning resignation submitted within hours of the magazine's online posting of the story. And General David Petraeus — yet again — as the go-to choice as America's turnaround specialist. Amidst all the nonstop chatter from pundits, politicians, and former ambassadors, allow me to distance myself from the familiar situation I was in with Admiral William Fallon and sift through the tea leaves to look ahead at Petraeus's new gig. Because there are magazine stories, and then there is war. And because — who knows? — Afghanistan may be a lot better off, and Obama may have picked his replacement in more ways than one.
Read the full post at Esquire.com's The Politics Blog.
Reader Comments (5)
Super summary. Let's see how accurate your predictions are, I'd put my money behind them.
No dithering, no over thinking it. Done and move on. After all, this general was not Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur was a national super hero. I was about 10 years old when MacArthur came home from Korea. He drove down Chicago's Lake Shore Drive in an open convertible. He was in full uniform and had his corn cob pipe. The whole city came out to see him. Truman was in a tougher spot than Obama. Lincoln had to fire most of his generals because of incompetence. In the middle of a Civil War, with the enemy on the outskirts of Washington. Johnson had to deal with Westmoreland who kept promising "victory" if he could just have more troops and more time. Johnson finally quit.
I not sure I understood the reference to Ms. Kagan. I assume Tom believes the President is the winner here and will carry that extra prestige into the nomination battle. I can't think that far ahead anymore.
I am both shocked and glad by just how fast this whole thing was. Still scratching my head as to what the hell happened. If MacCrystal wanted out surely there are better ways to go about it, and if he didn't then what were his expectations after the release of the RS article.
I think this hurt Obama badly. A high ranking military official who said those things about Obama certainly did its damage. At least half of America (probably more in the last 18 months) agree with McChrystal. Obama was not up to the job to start with and he isn't up to it now.
It's shocking, but charisma does not equal competence.
Petraeus is Obama's best (and likely only) move under the circumstances. The McChrystal flap uncovered the dissent, egos, malaise and antagonism between and among the WH and military. Tom's summary is spot on -- who's gonna go up against Petraeus? Probably nobody. AfPak gets back on track.