War Czar
So, the best person they could draw into the position of war czar was a three star general for whom this is a promotion?
This terminally weak appointment is expected to walk in and order around Four Star Generals, Robert Gates and the Defense Department, Condi Rice and the State Department, and Cheney's office? This guy is what's been missing?
I guess if the job of war czar is simply to absorb blame, then the more powerless and ineffective, the better.
This terminally weak appointment is expected to walk in and order around Four Star Generals, Robert Gates and the Defense Department, Condi Rice and the State Department, and Cheney's office? This guy is what's been missing?
I guess if the job of war czar is simply to absorb blame, then the more powerless and ineffective, the better.
posted by mikevotes at
10:13 PM
6 Comments:
Is there not a sufficient chain of command to manage the military? Is this guy working out of the WH rather than the Pentagon? Does this mean the pres has ceded civilian leadership of the military... is the military now a co-equal (or near co-equal) branch of the government?
This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Either the President of the United States is in charge, or he isn't. It's not like there isn't a well established military chain of command (I know I'm repeating myself). Beyond looking for a scape goat, I fail to see what problem this new position solves, and I fail to see what duties this new position will hold that are not already held by more capable others.
By
-epm, at 10:01 AM
Good point. He is doing a somewhat similar job without the title at the Joint Chiefs right now.
I think they settled on this guy becuase they'd already said they were searching and they had to have somebody. They couldn't come back and say nobody would take the job.
And, yes, this is definitely the job of the President. It's not like some reading program that's not on the top of the agenda every day.
This guy is just being set up for blame, but for him it's a career building promotion that will take him from obscurity to a media or consulting job.
Mike
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mikevotes, at 10:52 AM
"...that will take him from obscurity to a media or consulting job."
I feel a Medal of Freedom coming up for Gen'l Whatshisname!
Technically, I wonder about the constitutionality of this role. This isn't an adviser to the pres., this seems to be a position that will assume the role of Commander in Chief, at least for the Iraq (and Afghanistan?). And really... what more is there these days?
I think the Senate should just reject the entire notion of a War Czar. Make The Decider, The Commander Guy, actually have to suck it up and bear the burden of the mantle of his power. Don't confirm Whatshisname. Don't even schedule a vote.
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-epm, at 2:19 PM
It depends on how they structure it.
He doesn't actually have to have the power of force so long as they believe he'll tattle and get the PResident involved.
To the last paragraph, I think the Senate is now at the point of letting Bush hang himself on the war. Obstructing a Czarship just allows the Bush admin to blame the Dems a little more.
However, I do think they should repeatedly hit your point at every chance they get.
"Bush claims extreme executive powers, but delegates the most important issue of his presidency..... Is it any wonder we're where we are when the president doesn't care enough about the war to get involved himself?" etc. etc.
By
mikevotes, at 3:59 PM
Good points.
Bush's low key approach to introducing this new debutant of deadly duplicity seems to indicate the role will be a ceremonial one. Like Bush's personal sin-eater.
By
-epm, at 8:35 PM
Again, I think it was meant to be a rollout "restart" moment, but as no one responded it became an ebarrassment.
By
mikevotes, at 9:05 PM
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