{"id":79,"date":"2008-10-27T17:01:44","date_gmt":"2008-10-27T17:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2008\/10\/obamas-judgement.html"},"modified":"2008-10-27T17:01:44","modified_gmt":"2008-10-27T17:01:44","slug":"obamas-judgement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/10\/obamas-judgement.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s judgement"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a great anecdote by Joe Klein about Obama’s meeting with General Petraeus<\/a> in Iraq that I think speaks very well of Obama’s judgement and leadership, especially with regard to military matters:<\/p>\n

\n

Obama had a choice at that moment. He could thank Petraeus for the
\nbriefing and promise to take his views “under advisement.” Or he could
\ntell Petraeus what he really thought, a potentially contentious course
\nof action — especially with a general not used to being confronted.
\nObama chose to speak his mind<\/b>. “You know, if I were in your shoes, I
\nwould be making the exact same argument,” he began. “Your job is to
\nsucceed in Iraq on as favorable terms as we can get. But my job as a
\npotential Commander in Chief is to view your counsel and interests
\nthrough the prism of our overall national security.” Obama talked about
\nthe deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, the financial costs of the
\noccupation of Iraq, the stress it was putting on the military.<\/p>\n

A “spirited” conversation ensued, one person who was in the room
\ntold me. “It wasn’t a perfunctory recitation of talking points. They
\nwere arguing their respective positions, in a respectful way.” The
\nother two Senators — Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed — told Petraeus they
\nagreed with Obama. According to both Obama and Petraeus, the meeting —
\nwhich lasted twice as long as the usual congressional briefing — ended
\nagreeably. Petraeus said he understood that Obama’s perspective was,
\nnecessarily, going to be more strategic. Obama said that the timetable
\nobviously would have to be flexible. But the Senator from Illinois had
\nlaid down his marker: if elected President, he would be in charge.
\nUnlike George W. Bush, who had given Petraeus complete authority over
\nthe war — an unprecedented abdication of presidential responsibility
\n(and unlike John McCain, whose hero worship of Petraeus bordered on the
\nunseemly) — Obama would insist on a rigorous chain of command. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I think this is a critical point, especially since Iraq is a single front in the war against extremist fanatics and Obama has articulated a broader strategy, with emphasis on Afghanistan. I’d have loved to be a fly on the wall for that debate!<\/p>\n

Now, McCain’s argument has been that he was right about the Surge and supporting Petraeus in his Iraq strategy, but the problem here is that the Surge is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Waziristan is not Anbar, for numerous reasons (not least of which being that the locals in Waziristan are very pro-Taliban, whereas the Anbarites were anti-Al-Qaeda). Not only is McCain content to delegate responsibility to Petraeus rather than taking the broader view required of him as commander in chief, but his judgement is in fact severely flawed if he thinks that the Surge is a magic bullet. Keep in mind also that Joe Biden is a recognized foreign policy expert on Pakistan, so this bodes well for the long-term strategy of the Obama Administration towards the war on terror overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a great anecdote by Joe Klein about Obama’s meeting with General Petraeus in Iraq that I think speaks very well of Obama’s judgement and leadership, especially with regard to military matters: Obama had a choice at that moment. He could thank Petraeus for the briefing and promise to take his views “under advisement.” Or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29,121,120,95],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nation-building","tag-barack-obama","tag-foreign-policy","tag-iraq","tag-presidential-election"],"yoast_head":"\nObama's judgement - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama's judgement - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There’s a great anecdote by Joe Klein about Obama’s meeting with General Petraeus in Iraq that I think speaks very well of Obama’s judgement and leadership, especially with regard to military matters: Obama had a choice at that moment. 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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}