McChrystal Out, Petraeus In

What was McChrystal thinking?  While chatting up a Rolling Stone reporter, the general managed to trash the civilian leadership (read: the White House) of the war.  Some of the points I found enlightening like Obama meeting McChrystal for the first time and making nothing more than a photo-op out of the whole deal with no talk of substance.  Others I found merely redundant, apparently McChrystal thinks Biden is a moron which puts him in the company of not only most Americans but most Democrats (no poll linked, just ask one).  As bad as the photo-op meeting with the President must have been, Rolling Stone is not the place to voice your outrage.

It's hard to say what the result of McChrystal's dismissal might be.  Changing generals is a legitimate way to change the tide in a war.  With June facing up to be the bloodiest month in Afghanistan, this might merely be a less critical way to push a general with a flawed vision aside.  The question is was it for the that reason?   If instead it was due to the Rolling Stone article, Obama is not living up to his idol.  As Reason reports "Once, when Lincoln paid an evening visit to his top commander, George McClellan, the famously arrogant general came home and went to bed without so much as acknowledging the president. Lincoln shrugged it off, saying he would hold McClellan's horse if it would produce a victory." 

Obama inheriting two wars, one of which is going poorly at the moment, would be better served by a victory than a dismissal of a general who insulted him.  The AP is reporting that the Petraeus will continue McChrystal's strategy which begs the question, why was McChrystal not severely dressed down (as well he should have been) instead of dismissed entirely?  

Obama's Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, certainly said worse in public about Obama and did so in paid advertisement running all over the country.  Bill Clinton, a White House insider, dismissed the Obama as a purely racial candidiate during the South Carolina primaries.  Many of Clinton's former advisers now serve the President, many of which have probably said rude or disparaging things in the past about the current Commander-in-Chief.  Obama reached out to these people for a political return as any good politician would do and many accepted his offer, also as any good politician would do.  Why didn't Obama reach out to McChrystal for political expediency since he still utilizes the general's strategy? 

Regardless of the President's reasoning, General Petraeus has my support and I hope he can turn around Afghanistan as he did Iraq.  If Obama made a misstep, he corrected himself quickly by replacing him with a genuine war hero with a proven track record.  I suppose I too am wary about the civilian leadership under this Administration.