Pages

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Mindful Musings 2-Power

It is stunning that a general can be allowed to step down and out of power in a matter of a day. But it was done today, and I might say, skillfully done.

The U.S. Constitution is a document that basically denounces the military as the sole mover and shaker of policy. Our military is under civilian authority and while that often accounts for poor bed partners, it is nonetheless, a solid policy thus avoiding a take over by the military in times of crises.

General McChrystal was out of line when he took a public stance against his own commander-in-chief, Vice-President and others by allowing Rolling Stone to write an article and shadow him around.

The only road the General was going to take was the high road to his job loss. More was at stake than just the ramble of his aides and the general, himself. In his comments and attitude, as portrayed in the article, it showed a complete disregard of the office of the presidency and an almost snarly rancor toward the civilian powers. This was untenable, especially for a 4-star general who is supposed to carry out policies in Afghanistan.

What we saw today, at the White House, was a president, who showed his constitutional strength, to his people. At the same time, he showed that he is a fair president, allowing the general to resign. Thus, saving face for General McChrystal at the same time, showing restraint in Obama's presidency. The transition of General Petraeus as commander of the Afghanistan war, was a brilliant move as there will be a continuation of the president's policy and the goal of eventually leaving the country by 2011.

What I also found amazing, was the leaders of the Republicans in Congress, agreed with the president. This is not only non-partisan but extremely American of them. There is no doubt that this president has scored major points today. Lord knows, he needs all the help he can get.

No comments:

Post a Comment