The president-elect has done a very nice job, by and large, with his senior level appointments – quality folks, mostly centrist, insiders. Keeping Gates at Defense was a master stroke – if he succeeds in Iraq/Afghanistan, it’s because Obama was smart enough to choose him. If he fails, he’s an unfortunate relic of the previous regime, damaged goods – easy to jettison.
I also think it was very smart to put Hillary in State, not just politically - friends close/enemies closer – but also because she’s much better regarded after the primary grind than she was before. Even many of those who viscerally distrust her instincts and loathe the tawdriness of the Clinton legacy have to give herself credit for sheer doughtiness. And as I’ve written before, she might make peace in the Middle East just by wearing people down. Peace, yes, fine: Just get her out of my face.
Much more interesting will be to see the types of people he selects to fill second and third tier political appointments.
More than 600 political appointees work in the Defense Department, 49 of them in positions requiring Senate confirmation. The Senate confirmed Gates in December 2006, and he does not have to go through that process again.
During a news roundtable yesterday, Gates said the vast majority of political appointees will leave Jan. 20 as planned. Others will remain until their successors are named and confirmed, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters today.
“There may be a very small number of folks that are asked to stay beyond that,” Whitman added.
Airy words and grand strategies aside, these are the folks who actually execute policy. Obama’s netroot base – especially the less reality-grounded amongst the reality-based set – are already destined to be disappointed. They will be in actual uproar if they’re comprehensively excluded from the levers of power. The politically-appointed deputy assistant secretary to the assistant deputy secretary hopes to move up to the deputy assistant secretary seat within 4-6 years and maybe show up as Cabinet-actual in a follow-on administration. That’s how things are done in the permanent political class.
But putting a candidate in position who is at ideological odds with his secretary is a recipe for serial embarassments, however. Leaks, spats, grudges, firings ”spending more time with the family.” Tell-all books.
Could be fun.
So long as Dr Chu leaves ASAP-it will be a great day for America.
He should be fired publically-al la Sestak-as a means to send a message that the new adminitration actually intends to make good on its commitments to Soldiers and Sailors-Airman and Marines.
Tossing Chu on the wood pile would be a good way for Gates to gain goodwill from veterans groups too.
You don’t mean VADM (ret) Sestak, now do you?
. Had Hillary won, he’d be measuring the drapes in DepSecDef’s office now. Certainly he isn’t from the school of paybacks are a MF.
Friend was his COS when he was a DESGRU. Talk about a crappy job!
so wait… you’re telling me that when the Office of the President changes hands, from one political party to another, that the entire flock of “at will” political appointees can be terminated at the pleasure of the incoming President, and it won’t be seen as being a partisan political act, but instead will be treated as merely a routine transfer of the reins of power??
what kind of a simplistic tool do you take me for? (<– rhetorical)
I wouldn’t call them centrists, Lex. They are well to the left of center, just not of the loony left.
“centrists” as in “universe revolves around themselves”??
There are two phrases engineers have in their verbal toolbox. One is, “Of course the planet revolves around us — we chose the coordinate system!” and the second starts with, “Imagine a world with no…”
Quartermaster makes the point, Mike nails it down.
There is nothing so upsetting to the mind as having to change base assumptions.
– Max
I wonder what O-man will offer his ex-GEN/ADM supporters in defense like the bus driver uniform, former AF COS and our own “Black” N. ….
Beware. I’m apprehensive about it.
b2
What do you guys think of Gen. Jim Jones as National Security Advisor? From what I’ve read he seems the opposite of “political” general officers like Wesley Clarke or the “beloved” Colin Powell, but you guys in the Navy and the Corps will know better of his reputation within the service.
I don’t know much about the General myself, we ran in different circles. But for Max, remember that 2+2=5
For extremely large values of two…
FWIW, Jones was SECDEF William Cohen’s assist during a period in the Clinton admin in the 90s when we went on a procurement “holiday” that stopped most wpns programs dead in their tracks. We STILL haven’t recovered from that yet. Jones’ role? None or a lot? Who knows? But he was present at the scene of the crime……
I’ll reiterate a point I made a lot earlier-a lot of blame for the 90′s procurement holiday as well as the decisions or lack thereof in the 00′s rests at the feet of the uniformed military-at least as much as their civilian overlords.
In both cases our flag leadership was bent on impressing the civilian leadership that they “got it” that they made some pretty stupid decisions.
There’s a member of the Board of Directors of Raytheon now who knows all about that.
Max, I’m gonna have to take you out to the wood shed! Engineers don’t choose (or create) the coordinate system, Surveyors do. It’s now geocentric, and the left thinks it’s the world. I oughta know since I is both Engineer and Surveyor.
For Max, 2+2 may be five. In artillery, however, we always round even, so it gotta be 4 or may be, for real large values of 2, 6. The jury (or is it the umpires) is out. Personally, I’ve never consumed sufficient quantities of squeezins’ to make it anything but 4.