Have a good viewing of the video or read of the transcript of the interview of General James Jones, President Obama’s National Security Advisor, on CBS’s Face the Nation and you’ll get the big story. The fight between Obama advisors who want to limit US involvement in Afghanistan and the military commanders who want escalation just went public, big-time. The decision of General Stanley McChrystal, in a speech in London, to trash Vice President Joe Biden’s preference for a tightly-defined American effort against Al Qa’eda was a Take That to the Administration. That’s why he got hauled aboard Air Force One, as President Obama made a special stopover en route to Copenhangen, for “consultations”.
Jones, with his military background, has been Obama’s chosen tough guy to face down the commanders (thus his comment this summer to the commanders in Afghanistan that, faced with a request for more troops, the President would react, “WTF?”). So, watching and reading this, how firm a line will Obama hold against the persistent demands and public pressures of his Generals?
(Below the CBS interview we’ve added the transcript of Jones’ appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, which goes over similar ground.)
BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: General, thank you for coming. More bad news from Afghanistan this morning. Eight American troops killed in this latest attack. This as the White House is debating whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. I want to begin by asking you about this meeting that the president had with General McChrystal, our top general in Afghanistan. He met with him in Copenhagen after the general basally shot down the idea of changing strategy in Afghanistan. Two questions. First, did the president feel that the general was trying to bring pressure on him in public and did he tell him not to do that?
GEN. JIM JONES, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, Bob, first, thank you very much for having me on. It’s good to be back. Secondly to answer your question, I wasn’t at that meeting. And this is a one- on-one meeting between the two of them. And I haven’t really talked to the president about that. So I couldn’t answer this question except to say that the two had a good meeting and it was a good opportunity for them to get to know each other a little bit better. I’m sure they exchanged very direct views. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s now less than 15 minutes until President Obama’s news conference on Guantanamo Bay, 30 minutes until former Vice President Dick Cheney launches his latest assault on the Administration (and, if you’ll forgive the editorial comment, decency) with a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
So in anticipation and as an extension of our commentary this morning, here is Dan Froomkin’s excellent blog on The Washington Post website taking apart the Congressional bailout, particularly by Obama’s Democrats, on Guantanamo:
With Friends Like These
Here’s one thing that hasn’t changed in the Obama era: Republicans are still able to come up with scare tactics that turn Senate Democrats into a terrified and incoherent bunch of mewling babies.
It’s hard to imagine anything more ridiculous than the suggestion that bringing some of the terror suspects currently incarcerated in Guantanamo to high-security prisons in America will pose a threat to local communities. Read the rest of this entry »
LIBERAL TEABAGGING SABOTAGE UPDATE (10 p.m. British Teabag Time): Enduring America regrets to confirm that liberal saboteurs have out-Teabagged our Republican friends, forcing the end of the Washington DC protest:
Secret Service officers were scurrying to close the North Lawn of the White House Wednesday afternoon because of a suspicious package and it appeared that trouble was brewing.
But it turned out that nothing more was brewing than an innocent little box of, yes, tea bags.
Journalists were quickly banned from moving outside of the press briefing room, and hundreds of protesters gathered for a “Tax Day Tea Party” were quickly shooed out of Lafayette Park as a security robot inspected the package closely.
After about a half hour of high alert, a Secret Service official told CNN the “suspicious package” was merely some tea bags. So the threat was over, and so was the anti-Obama protest.
We fear that we may have may have misunderestimated our liberal/radical/taxifying opponents’ expertise and experience with Teabagging. Next time we must ensure that we, and not they, are the ones who “Teabag Obama”. Read the rest of this entry »
In the run-up to the 44th President of the USA, there was a good deal of black comedy in the desperation of some to prevent the 43rd from taking his place in oblivion. From Karl Rove, who may just have been trying to sweep up around his own place in our memories, to Charles Krauthammer, who helped sell the notion of the “unipolar moment” that assisted the Bush Administration in its failed ambitions, to Andrew Roberts, who clung to dreams of American Empire, to Bruce Anderson, who bellowed, “History Will Vindicate Bush”, to former Dubya speechwriters, the chant went up: One Day You’ll Be Grateful for All He Did.
So, in that spirit, we’re pleased to re-print, from AlterNet, Bernie Horn’s Top10 Reasons to Remember Dubya.
So Long Worst President Ever; 10 Reasons History Will Hang You
It’s now less than 15 minutes until President Obama’s news conference on Guantanamo Bay, 30 minutes until former Vice President Dick Cheney launches his latest assault on the Administration (and, if you’ll forgive the editorial comment, decency) with a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
LIBERAL TEABAGGING SABOTAGE UPDATE (10 p.m. British Teabag Time): Enduring America regrets to confirm that liberal saboteurs have out-Teabagged our Republican friends, forcing the end of the Washington DC protest:
Entries (RSS)