Petraeus talk: Comments agree with Obama, Disagree with McCain

[Cleverboy]

http://washingtonindependent.com/11381/petraeus
Petraeus Talk Bolsters Obama
While McCain Backs Petraeus, General Sounds Notes
That Harmonize With Democratic Nominee.

Throughout Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, the Republican nominee has wrapped himself in the mantle of U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, proclaiming himself the leading advocate of the former commanding general in Iraq who devised last year’s controversial troop surge. Yet during a talk Wednesday about Iraq at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington policy organization, Petraeus repeatedly made statements that bolstered the foreign-policy proposals of Sen. Barack Obama, McCain’s Democratic rival, or cut against McCain’s own lines. This type of thing sounds like the type of disagreements Bush had with Greenspan, where I'd have imagined that Bush would have been more interested in following Greenspan's observations, but it seemed that Greenspan conformed to Bush's priorities. Is Petreaus keeping an eye on the political winds, or is Obama simply more "upfront" about the job that needs to be done (listening to commanders on the ground, instead of simply cloning an incompatible strategy from a different region?)

~ CB

[RacerX]

I'd point out that Obama has the luxury of listening to the commanders on the ground... he didn't start either war so his political fortunes aren't tied to making the wars seem different than they actually are. By contrast, McCain adopted many of the administration's positions early in his campaign... some of which the administration has backed away from since.

So keeping that in mind, if Obama sells us on a new war (which would be a hard sell these days), he'll most likely be pushing the military the same way that the current administration is to make it seem like certain objectives are being met. We can hope that Obama deals with conflicts like George H.W. Bush did, not biting off more than we can handle and keeping the objectives clear.

Personally, I think any president going forward should keep in mind Powell's Pottery Barn rule when considering military intervention anywhere in the world.

[mactastic]

Petraus is no dummy... He can read the political tea leaves as well as the rest of us can, and that is telling him he better make nice with the likely president if he wants to keep his job.