Analysis: Obama 'Resigned' to Being Wartime President

[froggy]

As Combat in Iraq Formally Ends, Obama 'Resigned' to Being Wartime President

When they can't cut it at being president, they draw your eyes off them, this one's doing like the last and using war as his smoke screen.

 

[rightwinger]

Military observers give Obama high marks for surrounding himself with seasoned military veterans. By keeping Bush's secretary of defense, Robert Gates, the president gave himself political cover for sending more troops to Afghanistan and cutting military spending. He named former Marine commandant and NATO commander James Jones to be his national security adviser. And, while it didn't work out, his first director of national intelligence was a retired Navy admiral, Dennis Blair.

"He is taking a very different tack," said Peter Feaver, a Bush adviser and expert on civil-military relations. By keeping Gates, who has held senior leaders accountable when they haven't measured up, the president is "making a deliberate attempt to show he's not afraid of the military," he said.