Tuesday, June 22, 2010
General Insanity
With the Afghanistan effort not going quite as well as planned, President Obama's commander in the field, Gen. Stanley McChrystal permits a mindblowing interview/profile with Rolling Stone. He and aides trash Obama, Biden, Richard Holbrooke and a few others. Result: The general is being summoned to Washington, DC, for a chat with the commander-in-chief. Considering that this is the second time McChrystal has breached the political/military protocols with this president, it's tough to see how Obama can keep him (unless it's determined that sacking him would be worse for Afghan strategy).
Meanwhile, news also breaks that Obama's budget director Peter Orszag is quitting next month. Considering the debate within the administration between the "more stimulus" crowd and the "deficit reduction" group, this departure is occurring at a difficult time.
In full, this combination of stories suggests an administration in chaos with as the leaders of both its primary foreign policy effort and its domestic economic agenda possibly gone months before the midterm elections.
UPDATE: The Rolling Stone article in PDF format.
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Meanwhile, news also breaks that Obama's budget director Peter Orszag is quitting next month. Considering the debate within the administration between the "more stimulus" crowd and the "deficit reduction" group, this departure is occurring at a difficult time.
In full, this combination of stories suggests an administration in chaos with as the leaders of both its primary foreign policy effort and its domestic economic agenda possibly gone months before the midterm elections.
UPDATE: The Rolling Stone article in PDF format.
Labels: Stanley McChrystal
