The Mudville Gazette comments on reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay on under President-elect Barack Obama, a development that Jules Crittenden sarcastically refers to as Obama’s vote for Bush. The Mudville Gazette also notes Obama has shifted his policy on Iraq for the third time altering “a campaign-era demand that the U.S. Congress ‘must approve’ it [SOFA] to a simple acknowledgment that Congress ’should review’ the agreement.”
That’s his third major shift in Iraq policy, by the way. The first was ‘clarifying’ that “immediately begin withdrawal/16 months” bit last July, the second was quietly dropping the call to eliminate “security contractors” (probably in light of reality) – and I give him much credit for those choices, too.
TalkLeft is undismayed, noting that not everything about Bush was bad. “Unlike a lot of folks, I respect Bush 41ers like Gates. My one problem with this is that it sends the message that Dems can’t do Defense.” The Daily Kos was predictably livid. “Should Barack Obama choose to retain Robert Gates, if only for a year, he will telegraph a victory of the bankrupt status quo in the far-reaching and foremost area of Defense. Having already appointed two Tenet alums, John Brennan and Jami Miscik , President-Elect Obama needs to show as much certitude with Defense as he is doing with Treasury.” The Moderate Voice makes a virtue of the disappointment of the far left wing of the Democratic Party, describing the Gates choice as evidence that Obama will chart a “centrist” course — “a signal again of how Obama seems to seriously study an issue and reach a decision even if some clamor for a different outcome.”
The alternative explanation is that Obama knew from the start what Talkleft openly admitted: that major elements of the GWB’s security policy were quite competent, whatever he said to the contrary on the campaign. When his own political future was at stake — the one thing that could ruin Obama’s Presidency was a national security disaster at the start of his term — he voted according to his true beliefs. Obama chose the man with the track record of achievement, Robert Gates. And the dangers have not yet abated. ABC News reports, for example, that authorities have learned of al-Qaeda’s plans to attack New York’s subways. “The FBI has warned New York area law enforcement of a ‘plausible but unsubstantiated’ al Qaeda suicide bomb attack against the area’s commuter rail systems over the holiday. … The use of the term ‘plausible but unsubstantiated’ suggests the information came from a ‘walk-in’ to a US embassy, said former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou, an ABC News analyst.” Other things he could take a chance on: Hillary at State, Richardson at Commerce, Holder at the AG’s. But in the one single thing that could ruin him in an instant, BHO simply gave, as Jules Crittenden said, Bush’s defense policies a “third term”.
Glenn Reynolds seems relieved that Obama lied to the Left, or at least let them mishear him. “So, who are the rubes this time? Glenn Greenwald has a clue. ‘So many progressives were misled about what Obama is and what he believes. But it wasn’t Obama who misled them. It was their own desires, their eagerness to see what they wanted to see rather than what reality offered.’ Well, the master bullshitter always lets the rubes hear what they want to hear. And knows that there will be some rubes who will make excuses, even after the truth is revealed.”
But that is cold comfort. As any woman who has considered having an affair with a married man should know, any man who can lie to his wife can lie to his mistress. Any man who has hosted a dinner guest famous for robbing his fellow diners should start counting his spoons. Maybe another way to be a rube is to think that BHO is a closet conservative. The most probable reason why Barack Obama offered Robert Gates an extension at Defense was because he thought it was good for Barack Obama.
What will be interesting to watch — and even the Left are beginning to notice that they don’t really know Obama as well as they thought — is how he will behave when his own political ambitions and the welfare of the United States might diverge. The greatest measure of Winston Churchill’s leadership were his years alone: the time between the wars when he could have had office, honor and power were he but to tell a lie or let himself be misheard. In the summer of 1935 the forgotten Winston greeted his wife Clementine upon her return from a 30,000 mile sea-voyaging holiday with friends. She brought home with her a Bali Dove: “a dear little pinky-beige bird with coral beak and feet, who lived in a wicker cage resembling a lobster pot”. The Bali Dove lived two or three years and died in the closing days of the long weekend from history. Clementine buried him under a sundial with words taken from a poem:
Here lies the Bali Dove
It does not do to wander
Too far from sober men
But there’s an island yonder
I think of it again.
That quiet time with his inner light, and not the War Cabinet Crisis of May, 1940, was his finest hour.
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37 Comments
1. Eggplant:No doubt Obama’s flip-flopping is making the Moonbats anxious. I suspect part of Obama’s motivation is that he’s clueless (no prior executive experience) so his default strategy is to bring in as many Clinton people as possible and leave everything else on autopilot.
However Wretchard’s comment is important:
“As any woman who has considered having an affair with a married man should know, any man who can lie to his wife he can lie to his mistress.”
Deep down inside, Obama is a Marxist. Sometime around June 2009, Obama will get his bearings and allow his inner Marxist to shine. I’m hoping by that time the hyenas in the MSM will have turned on him.
We live in interesting times.
Nov 26, 2008 - 11:29 am 2. Alexis:I’m not convinced that keeping Gates on is an endorsement of the Bush administration in any manner whatsoever. Instead, I think Obama is attempting to assure major players in Washington that he will be a steady hand at the wheel while slowly turning the ship of state in another direction. Obama’s moves appear to be the moves of a radical who knows what he is doing; these are the moves of someone who seeks to discredit the alarmists in the short term in order to further his long term objectives.
If Hillary Clinton turns out to be an excellent choice for Secretary of State, he’ll get the credit. If Hillary Clinton turns into a thorn in his side, she’ll get maneuvered out of office and her political career will be over. If Robert Gates becomes a man who obeys Obama’s commands while soothing Republican fears, keeping him would be an excellent choice. Besides, Secretary Gates can be replaced at any time with another man who will be more compliant.
I do think Barack Obama has a radical agenda of his own, an agenda he will probably seek to implement slowly enough to make him seem like a moderate. With Nancy Pelosi quite willing to act as a “bad cop”, he can probably get away with this.
Nov 26, 2008 - 11:59 am 3. dan:i agree – Obama is a marxist. as yuri bezmenov said on youtube: “the process of demoralization is irreversible. you cannot get rid these people. they are contaminated; they are programmed to think in certain patterns and respond to certain stimuli.” but obama is now US president, and has had his eyes only intel report. where it was told to him that there is a big f*cking problem out there that argues for his retaining gates until they can get a more politically fun defense guy in there. these blogs all miss the point: what retaining gates and appointing Jones NSA chief show is that the lefty version of events is absolutely a room-full-of-mirrors fantasy, and no actual commander in chief would choose to be the guy who opted for massive self-inflicted wounds simply to gratify people who are both completely wrong and stupidly vicious.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:09 pm 4. Eggplant:Alexis said:
“Obama’s moves appear to be the moves of a radical who knows what he is doing; these are the moves of someone who seeks to discredit the alarmists in the short term in order to further his long term objectives.”
I agree. This is my reading as well. We won’t have a clear measure of Obama’s actual intent until about June 2009. As I mentioned before, where Obama might miscalculate is through inducing the MSM to turn against him. However the MSM is so besotted over Obama that it might take more than 6 months for them to snap out of it.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:09 pm 5. Zim:I’m taking Obama at face value right now. He does appear to be acting like a centrist (for a Dem). He may be a radical at heart, but like an alcoholic who never takes a drink, it’s only a word if not acted on.
I feel relieved by the moves he has made. So if this is all smoke and mirrors by Obama to calm us rubes then I say, well done, it worked. However, I don’t see why he would worry over us rubes that much, I mean the man has supermajorities in both houses and the media in his hip pocket. We maybe giving ourselves too much credit, and Obama too little.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:16 pm 6. mhw:Now that the SOFA is close to a done deal, Obama needs someone at the DOD who can competently execute it or at least execute the crucial early stages. By 2010 or 2011, Gates will have served his purpose and can be dismissed.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:18 pm 7. Mongoose:I do not know why people assume that this person is in charge. Just look at him. It is the puppeteers that matter.
And, no doubt, there is a power struggle in the background between the Chicago crowd, the Dem establishment and the Soros Beserkers (and, no doubt, any forgien “backers”).
(BTW, it is interesting to note the Volker appointment.)
The bottom line, is that the whole lot are locked in the past, and not just Sept 10th, 2001.
They seem to want, in their various factions, to return to 1992, 1996, 1965, 1845 and 1935.
They seem to view the whole Conservative project since 1980 as an aberration at best, but more likely a mirage. They appear actually believe this.
Well, we are in no longer in a world where either Democrat cleptocrat cronyism or cryto-marxism will allow us to limp along and hope matters work themselves out on their own.
For all of their wonking and grousing, they do not get it.
Certainly though, a substantial portion of that crowd are DEEPLY marxist
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:41 pm 8. Alexis:If Barack Obama is the man I think he is, he would value compliance over competence, competence over ideology, and ideology over friendship. His most important criterion for his staff would be whether they do what they are told. Obama would likely prefer a competent and compliant conservative over any competent leftist friend of his who won’t follow orders.
In two years, Barack Obama’s cabinet probably won’t look much like the one he starts with. By then, Barack Obama will likely have the most obedient cabinet in American history.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:43 pm 9. Jay:He is going to put his lefties in staff positions where the real work is done.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:43 pm 10. RWE:Note that Bill Clinton got a Republican for SECDEF and for the same reason: No Democrat had any credibility for the job.
I think that Gates ought to run out the door so fast that the doorknob can’t hit him. Anybody with good sense, and especially any Republican, needs to be as far away from the Obamanation group as possible. I am even thinking that a Democrat 60 seat majority in the Senate has a definite upside: that way no Republican can be blamed in any way for anything.
Aside from that, Gates clearly is setting himself up to be blamed and fired after the first Obama military disaster.
The definition of a socialist is one who thinks that capitalism is a cow to be milked. The definition of a communist is one who thinks that capitalism is a cow to be slaughtered. We need to make sure that when Obama tries to milk the cows there is nothing but bulls left. And that the cowboys have all quit so even those cattle have mostly wandered off.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:48 pm 11. Mongoose:I should say the whole lot is locked in the past except Soros.
Heaven knows what dimension that creep is in. There may not even be a notion of time there.
I have actually heard him speak, and more then once, and I can tell you that he is quite out of his mind. The tranzis just love him though, just eat his stuff up.
Seriously, we better be praying for some major screw up that snap Americans out of thier stupors and back into reality or we may never get this crowd out.
What a scandal, what a catastrophe it is that these villains control our fate.
We have never had such a threat in all our history if you ask me. worse than the Civil War.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:49 pm 12. Mongoose:RWE: So true. The problem is that a large segment mainstream GOP does not seem to understand what traitors these people are; they are still in the “oh, they are misguided, but at least they have the best interest of the country at heart” mode (we need a name for this syndrome). They are in complete denial.
There seems to be not much understanding at all as to what they are really up to and just how much damage they can do — how much that they intend to do.
The stakes could not be higher.
At this point, I think it is quite probable that we will not be a super power on the other side of Obama.
The sad thing is the the electorate does not seem to care.
Universal care will just sail through, and that will just be the end of us as a power. who would have thought such idiots could so swiftly and adroitly undo our heritage.
Let us hope they try immigration reform first.
Nov 26, 2008 - 12:58 pm 13. Peter Boston:I suspect that with Obama we wil be grasping at every and any semblance of less than destructive Marxist behavior on his part.
The 1st and 2nd Amendments are no less inconvenient to Obama than they were yesterday. We will always be waiting for the shoe to drop
Nov 26, 2008 - 1:01 pm 14. Mongoose:1845=1945;1996=1976
Nov 26, 2008 - 1:04 pm 15. G.R.Langworth:Hmmm…
Super majorities in both houses?
Compliant cabinet?
Credit crisis melting down wealth and confidence on Bush’s fading watch?
The confluence of a reductio ad absurdum argument.
Should the Democratic non-thinking left agenda prove unviable, as I truly fear it to be, how bad will it have to get to discredit these “bad ideas whose time has gone” for this Internet generation?
They can talk failure into submission these days in the media.
Who will notice it? How much brutal reality will it take to flush the media haze?
…the roots of my insomnia.
Nov 26, 2008 - 1:13 pm 16. Jim Nicholas:I am inclined to go along with Zim (#5) for the present, for the reasons he gives. I shall be watchful, but hopeful until new actions destroy my hope.
Obama may feel pressure to conform to the hopes and expectations of the far left. But it is not impossible that he will also respond to the hopes and expectations of the center and right.
Also there is the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance. There is a wealth of psychological experiments showing that if a person behaves in a certain way, his or her beliefs will begin to conform with the behavior, even if originally the beliefs were not consistent with the new behavior. For example, if persons are assigned to take one side or another in a debate, their beliefs will gravitate more toward the side that was assigned, irrespective of what the beliefs were originally. Thus, the more Obama acts as a centrist, the more his beliefs will tend toward the center in order to relieve the cognitive dissonance.
Also if he acts in a more centrist way, he will have some pressure to explain and justify those actions; and that need should also tend to move his beliefs in that direction.
As long as he is acting in a way that is pleasantly surprising me, I do not want to push him back into the folds of the far left (if that is where he was) by immediate, hostile suspicion.
Here’s hoping.
Jim
Nov 26, 2008 - 1:23 pm 17. Roderick Reilly:I have this nagging feeling that Obama is creating an “interim” cabinet, and that a number of those on it will be gone well before the end of Obama’s first term. I think he figured out that he needed to steady the ship of state with a large measure of continuity before he can think it’s then safe to push in a more radical direction.
What will be even more important for observers is to track the secondary-level appointments among the different agencies.
Nov 26, 2008 - 1:44 pm 18. Thrasymachus:The confusion here is not that Obama has appointed a “conservative” but the idea that Gates is any kind of a conservative, which he is not, or for that matter that Bush is any kind of a conservative, which he is not. Gates is far enough to the left for Obama and there isn’t anybody farther to the left capable of doing the job anyway.
Nov 26, 2008 - 1:54 pm 19. John Work:Some of you may have read Thomas Sowell’s “The Vision of the Anointed”. As a former Marxist, Sowell may have a better understanding of the “liberal” mindset than most of us. If he is correct, and past actions and words of the Democrats suggest he is, then it’s not likely that they will let ANY facts get in the way of their worship of the Obamamessiah and this includes the MSM. No matter how badly he may appear to stumble, for at least the time of two terms it can all be blamed on the evil Bush and his policies creating nearly insurmountable difficulties that even the One Himself can only correct with policies that will soon (soon!) begin to take effect and bring us all hope and change.
I agree with Alexis that the One is turning the ship of state slowly, but I think it’s more likely that this is the strategy of his behind the scenes handlers. Of course I may be making the same mistake of the Germans who thought Hitler was a clown and wouldn’t last. The fact that Obama has accomplished very little in his life thus far may mean nothing as far as his ability to rule.
Gates is good cover for any immediate problems that might occur, but this isn’t an endorsement of President Bush’s policies. But as others here have pointed out, the One’s cabinet will likely look different in a year or two. It’s all about boiling the frogs (that would be us).
Two key areas to watch are the Internet and “gun control”. Suppression of contrary ideas and removal of the means to resist will be key factors in the success of the long term strategy.
Nov 26, 2008 - 1:58 pm 20. Peter Boston:Four major banks, including one that collapsed, two that received federal bailout money and one that filed for bankruptcy this past September, paid former President Clinton $2.1 million for 13 speeches he delivered on their behalf between 2004-2007, according to Senate financial disclosure statements filed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
Citigroup paid Bill Clinton $700,000; Goldman Sachs paid $950,000; Lehman Brothers paid $300,000 and Merrill Lynch paid $175,000 to the former president for speeches during that time period. Sen. Clinton’s 2008 financial disclosure reports are not yet available. Fausta’s Blog
What was the quid pro quo?
When disbursements from the public treasury are made on the basis of the recipient’s political skills instead of the public good…you’re already in a tyranny (of sorts).
Nov 26, 2008 - 2:04 pm 21. exhelodrvr:I have suspected that Obama would do this. Bush’s approach to terrorism, on the whole, was so full of common sense it would take an idiot not to see that.
“the time between the wars when he could have had office, honor and power were he but to tell a lie or let himself be misheard”
Nov 26, 2008 - 2:36 pm 22. Peter Boston:Not sure I agree with the “honor” part of that, W.
Perhaps Obama’s vanity will work the greatest restraint. He has advanced his career to the pinnacle by smooth talk and taking responsibility for nothing. As POTUS avoiding responsibility is no longer a possibility.
He likely sees himself as the smartest human being who ever lived and would probably do anything to avoid being labeled a failure – ideology and personal beliefs be damned.
Nov 26, 2008 - 3:16 pm 23. Mongoose:Boy, some of you folks are optimistic about Obama. Again, he is a figurehead. These people are Leninists. There is no way on earth that they are good for the country. People like Soros are “setting policy”. (shudder)
By Feb. “comprehensive” immigration reform and universal health care will be in the works. How can anyone here possibly believe that Obama, Congress and the media all working as one will not implement the leftist agenda. There will me plenty of damage soon enough.
Give Obama the benefit of the doubt? It is like giving a scorpion the benefit of the doubt.
These people have to be faught tooth and nail and starting yesterday.
Nov 26, 2008 - 4:11 pm 24. RWE:Obama said he is going line by line through the budget and Xing out things that are not important. But the line item veto concept, pushed by Republicans for years, has not been approved.
The first item he says he will kill is farm subsidies – at least for “the rich.” But when Pres Bush vetoed the farm bill, Obama said that was a terrible thing to do and voted to override the veto.
We need to keep in mind that the first principle in dealing with these people is to give them enough rope to hang themselves.
Nov 26, 2008 - 4:34 pm 25. Carl Sesar:All the above, however conflicting in outlook, are reasonable tacks to take but, it seems to me, beside the point, for the moment at any rate. There are constitutional questions about his eligibility to be the president; until they are resolved, everything is provisional.
Nov 26, 2008 - 4:44 pm 26. dan:line-item veto is unconstitutional because it is the executive branch engaged in legislation, a power reserved to the legislature. the budget isn’t a legal fact until congress approves it. presumably he is talking about the next budget proposal, probably due in early-mid 2009.
regarding mongoose’s concern about the leninists, i think you may be right but with such charges i think we should wait for better evidence. to be a leninist is the worst treason in any but a soviet society!
Nov 26, 2008 - 5:00 pm 27. lc:Wow – “bankrupt status-quo” – the guy who wrote that must work for Barney Frank. Like wretchard said, Gates was kept because it’s good for Obama.
Nov 26, 2008 - 5:08 pm 28. cjm:why do you think the democratic congress isn’t going to feud with and undermine obama, to preserve it’s own power?
Nov 26, 2008 - 6:32 pm 29. outa my league:“In the summer of 1935 the forgotten Winston greeted his wife Clementine upon her return from a 30,000 mile sea-voyaging holiday with friends. She brought home with her a Bali Dove: “a dear little pinky-beige bird with coral beak and feet, who lived in a wicker cage resembling a lobster pot”. The Bali Dove lived two or three years and died in the closing days of the long weekend from history. Clementine buried him under a sundial with words taken from a poem:
Here lies the Bali Dove
It does not do to wander
Too far from sober men
But there’s an island yonder
I think of it again.”
- snip -
Wretchard, I’m a bit obtuse, could you please explain what the heck all this is supposed to mean? And how is what Clementine did and said supposed to illustrate what a great man Winston was during his political exile?
Illustrations should clarify, not muddy up the waters, IMO.
Dahli Lama
Snared not the
Bali Dova
Says he
Not to dismay
But Burma
I’ll Shave.
*****************
Nov 26, 2008 - 7:50 pm 30. peterike:Obama is playing possum here, that’s all.
The more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I think the first move of the Dems will be on immigration. If they legalize 15-20M Hispanics, then the Presidency is effectively in their hands for good and all. Already, many once red states flipped blue because of their rising Hispanic populations (voters legal and illegal both). If the tide is legalized, it’s done. Probably the Republicans won’t even take Texas anymore.
McCain, that chump, of course is already on board, and he will trotted out as the bi-partisan poster boy. The Republicans won’t even muster a squeak against it.
Essentially, if we get amnesty, we’re in a one-party state. Then Barry will have all the time he needs to do whatever the hell he pleases.
Nov 26, 2008 - 8:17 pm 31. Mike Sylwester:Excellent question, outa.
Here’s my own guess:
If it does not do (does not make sense) to wander too far from sober men, then it does do (does make sense) to wander far from alcoholic men. So, Clementine’s poem says the dead dove reminds her how much she enjoyed her long trip far away from her alcoholic husband Winston. Whe often thinks back to that trip fondly.
Now that I have formulated my own plausible interpretation of the poem, however, I am mystefied how it is supposed to fit with Wretchard’s article. Whenever I am mystified by the juxtopositions in one of Wretchard’s articles, which is often, I still enjoy their Zen-like pronouncement.
Nov 26, 2008 - 8:27 pm 32. Mike Sylwester:Correction: She often thinks back to that trip fondly.
Nov 26, 2008 - 8:28 pm 33. E. Nigma:There are major efforts to be made in becoming and remaining a world power. I don’t think that Obama is an American nationalist in the classic sense of the word, but he does want to be successful and wield power successfully. Thus, he retains Gates who can competently manage the Pentagon (for now) and allow him to wield power on the world stage, while concentrating on the domestic agenda, namely, socializing health care.
That is the key Democratic party agenda item to keep and wield political power into the future. It is the key to unlocking the mysteries of saving the Big 2.8, and rewarding union labor. It puts small government conservatives/Republicans on their heels for the forseeable future.
World events may interfer, but most likely Gates will be gone in a year, after Obama has someone else who can master the bureaucracy of the Pentagon.
Nov 26, 2008 - 9:28 pm 34. njcommuter:Obama may not have great executive abilities (few Presidents have), but don’t underestimate his intelligence. He used the Netroots to advance his goal of getting elected, and now is discarding them as any sane man would. If successful, he captures the Muddled Middle of the electorate and doesn’t need them in 2012.
. Perhaps the word should be “esteem” or “acclaim”?
Nov 26, 2008 - 9:46 pm 35. gumshoe:Perhaps the word should be “esteem” or “acclaim”?
or ‘adulation’.
none of which are honor.
Nov 26, 2008 - 11:53 pm 36. Unsk:Perhaps Obama’s personal vanity and his need to always be cool is bigger than his commitment to the Marxist cause.
We also may overestimating his intelligence and his competence. His cool veneer and verbal ability has always given an aura of command and intelligence throughout his political career. Being mysterious, aloof and and vaguely noncommittal may works wonders among today”s fashionable set, particularly while campaigning or posturing in the Senate, but it won’t completely cut it in his new office. .
Obama may never have really thought he could actually win the Presidency. His positions were always a con to advance him politically; there never was any depth or seriousness to them. His positions just sounded good.
But now, the game has changed. Sounding good is not enough. He must commit. He must act, and his actions and plans now have to actually work. After reaching the pinnacle, some little pangs of doubt may have set in. So might have the realization that being President is horribly difficult, particularly in these times of staggering crisis.
So perhaps he is playing it safe, cautious and conservative. He is surrounding himself with people who have been there before and know their fields well, perhaps because he knows in his heart he’s not all that bright.
Let’s hope so. Let’s hope this isn’t one big head fake and another Obama con just to ease in some socialist mischief. Lord know that Bush has left Obama with way too many opportunities for mischief.
Nov 27, 2008 - 12:42 am 37. Wadeusaf:It could be that he is trying to be president of all the people. He has his own ideas on stuff, much of which we still have heard but little, and wispy hints in his two books at that.
Nov 27, 2008 - 1:38 amI found it fascinating, while listening to the News Hour briefly, two guest commentators reflecting on the diversity of thought of appointments he has thus far proposed. They went on to describe a management style that sounded all to much like Donald Rumsfeld’s (sans snowflakes so far) or (gasp) President George W. Bush or President Abraham Lincoln. Of course they will only admit to Lincoln.
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