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The street fighter lawyer who came from party politics and got rich at Fannie May was my second choice for National Security Adviser.
My first choice would have been James Carville, who also has vast knowledge of the world outside U.S. borders and a firm grounding in national security issues.
No wonder we're in such great shape overseas.
Per the article:
"Obama seems to share his penchant for logic and order. Both are trained as lawyers, and their minds work in similar ways. A couple of times a year Obama gives Donilon a handwritten list of goals, from nuclear weapons containment to progress in Afghanistan. Obama breaks down his outline into points and "sub-points," Donilon said."
Please, someone, show me an Obama strategic initiative or policy thats more than "media matters." It seems Gen. Jones had it right. Logical tactical moves in perpetual campaign mode is no sign of brilliance; we had that for the pre-Obama 8 years. This Solomon is just cutting all the babies in half...that's wisdom?
First Petraeus is demoded to McChrystal's job, exiled to Kabul HQ, and when Petraeus couldn't keep his 2009 promise to tie up Afghanistan in 18 months after he gets his surge, Obama puts Petraeus as DCI where he can't call press conferences. Everyone is MOVED UP to oblivion. But neither the economy nor the war on terror are anywhere better than in Jan. 2009 and we're back into campaign mode.
One thing is clear, there's going to be big Pentagon cuts under Penetta in the next budget with a massive shift to infrastructural spending. Does that mean that in his next term Obama's going to cut loose the War on Terror, Middle East and go big on domestic spending followed by big cuts?
But then what about China? What about East Asia? Is that endeavor going to be cut back too? Lastly, does anyone feel strange that media commentators are conjuring up each his own Obama as he has failed to indicate where we're going as a nation? Does he think that he's better off with no policies, letting Republicans go loony tunes without giving them anything to criticize? What are we to do with all the disabled vets in this era of budget cuts? Are we now going the way of the Soviet Union, converted into a second rate power with lots of Afghan vets abandoned?
Kissinger and Brzezinsky both worked for Presidents each with a clear foreign policy perspective and strategic military lines. Obama only seems to put Donilon sitting on the lid so the pot doesnt bubble over. Next fall well be voting for the lesser of evils based on impressions and pop-up events as in 2008; so far all Obama is doing is checkmating potential political troublemakers-- three years into the term!
So who is the grand strategist on the National Security Team if not the National Security Advisor? But these quotes provide some insights into his thinking:
"At the core, our foreign policy has been about restoring American prestige, authority and power and influence in the world," Donilon said. "We went through a period of significant diminution of American power and authority and prestige in the world, for lots of different reasons.
"There was a high cost to the war in Iraq to American capital. We spent a lot of capital on that. We spent a lot of policy bandwidth on that, understandably, to the detriment of other problems we have in the world."
Donilon talks proudly of how Obama has had nine face-to-face meetings with China's leader, Hu Jintao. Yes, problems with China remain, he concedes. The U.S. still wants China to revalue its currency. But Donilon believes U.S.-China relations are on a better path. One reason: There's a process in place."