by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n Obama had no choice but to do what he did, and the wise Petraeus move was obviously a mitigating factor. Obama\u2019s speech, despite the customarily excessive use of \u201cI,\u201d \u201cme,\u201d and \u201cmy,\u201d was workmanlike and wise in its emphasis on continuity of strategy.<\/p>\n In this regard, the more one reads the\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/em>\u00a0hit piece, the more one has to be disturbed. There is much talk among conservatives to the effect that it was only McChrystal\u2019s staff, and not the general himself, who said things to a reporter that were insubordinate. (\u201cIn private, Team McChrystal likes to talk shit about many of Obama\u2019s top people on the diplomatic side.\u201d)<\/p>\n But McChrystal is reported as deprecating the vice president (\u201c\u2018Are you asking about Vice President Biden?\u2019 McChrystal says with a laugh. \u2018Who\u2019s that?\u2019\u201d), and he apparently described to subordinates a meeting with his commander-in-chief in a way that reduces Obama to a fool. (\u201c\u2018It was a ten-minute photo op,\u2019 says an adviser to McChrystal. \u2018Obama clearly didn\u2019t know anything about him, who he was. Here\u2019s the guy who\u2019s going to run his f[**]king war, but he didn\u2019t seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.\u2019\u201d)<\/p>\n There are plenty of other causes to worry: McChrystal\u2019s derision of a dinner with a French diplomat, the entire notion of letting off steam to a leftwing reporter in Paris during a war, even the revelation of whom McChrystal voted for (i.e., Obama). Once one digests all the ramifications of this, I think one will see this is not a partisan issue, but one of judgment and deference for the chain of command.<\/p>\n Surely if a colonel or a major gave the same sort of interview about the general, and such an officer\u2019s subordinates told the press the same sorts of things about McChrystal (much less Obama), he would be gone yesterday. I recall in Iraq overhearing a conversation among some reporters. One asked out loud, \u201cDo you think Petraeus will ever run for office?\u201d Another piped up, \u201cMaybe, but who knows on which side?\u201d \u2014 the point being that even though Petraeus worked with the Bush administration, and even though the Left took after him, he deliberately set a tone of professional nonpartisanship. He would never have disclosed to a reporter his past voting record, or had subordinates relay that information to the press. And he would never have disclosed any of his private concerns about Washington competency to a reporter, much less in a long-running conversation with a pesky\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/em>\u00a0tag-along.<\/p>\n The story does not start off very well; after all, we are introduced to General McChrystal in the article as he gives the finger to his chief of staff. (McChrystal was grousing about having to go to the above-mentioned dinner with a French diplomat. \u201c\u2018The dinner comes with the position, sir,\u2019 says his chief of staff, Col. Charlie Flynn. McChrystal turns sharply in his chair. \u2018Hey, Charlie,\u2019 he asks, \u2018does this come with the position?\u2019\u201d)<\/p>\n In contrast with all this, we can see that one of the reasons the surge worked was a particular tone established at the top by General Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker, the latter also a much underestimated figure, whose professionalism and competence will increasingly be appreciated, especially in contrast to the current diplomatic team in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n I think conservatives are making a big mistake citing all sorts of legitimate reasons for McChrystal to have expressed frustration. I agree with almost all of them, but they are not the issue, which remains judgment, the chain of command, civilian\/military relations, and the very wisdom of palling around Paris with a loose-cannon reporter.<\/p>\n A final note: It is one of ironies of our present warped climate that Petraeus will face far less criticism from the media and politicians than during 2007\u20138 (there will be no more \u201cGeneral Betray Us\u201d ads or \u201csuspension of disbelief\u201d ridicule), because his success this time will reflect well on Obama rather than George Bush. It is a further irony that Obama is surging with Petraeus despite not long ago declaring that such a strategy and such a commander were failures in Iraq. And it is an even further irony that he is now rightly calling for \u201ccommon purpose\u201d when \u2014 again not long ago, at a critical juncture in Iraq \u2014 Obama himself, for partisan purposes on the campaign trail, had no interest in the common purpose of military success in Iraq.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a92010 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner Obama had no choice but to do what he did, and the wise Petraeus move was obviously a mitigating factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[587],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-oO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1529,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/mcchrystals-tragedy-an-update-on-the-entire-mess\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":0},"title":"McChrystal’s Tragedy: An Update on the Entire Mess","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media He Had to Go 1) McChrystal, in fact, is a brave and heroic figure deserving our respect. But among friends and with a mole in his midst, he still himself deprecated the commander in chief. His staff took care of the VP, the national\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2010"","block_context":{"text":"June 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/june-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1536,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-mcchrystal-mess\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":1},"title":"The McChrystal Mess","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner Many have commented on the unfairness of it all, and made good points: a) Obama, having demagogued the Iraq war, and campaigned on a \u201clet me at \u2019em\u201d in the \u201cgood\u201d war in Afghanistan, has done his best to renege on his 2008 chest-thumping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2010"","block_context":{"text":"June 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/june-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2197,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/narcissus-in-chief\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":2},"title":"Narcissus-in-Chief","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner While our Narcissus-in-Chief is frozen gazing at his perfect image in his private pool, choices have to be made in Afghanistan. Consider the following: (a) We have a Democratically controlled Congress that by and large has supported, since 2004, the Kerry-Obama-Hillary Clinton narrative of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "October 2009"","block_context":{"text":"October 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/october-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2083,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/are-we-to-be-led-in-war-by-a-tiger-or-a-kitten\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":3},"title":"Are We to Be Led in War by a “Tiger” or a Kitten?","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner I\u00a0agree with many here that the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan\u00a0is positive news. And, yes, we should be thankful to President Obama that (for now) Generals Petraeus and McChrystal have at least 18 months and greater resources to secure the country before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2009"","block_context":{"text":"December 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/december-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10874,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/its-worse-than-a-crime\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":4},"title":"It\u2019s Worse Than a Crime . . .","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Corner The one and only. by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 I agree with most commentators that Michael Wolff\u2019s sensational mythologies in Fire and Fury will be largely forgotten within three weeks \u2014 with one caveat (see below). \u00a0 Wolff confirmed what most already knew about the Left\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2112,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/we-aint-seen-nothin-yet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":5},"title":"We Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services When it comes to the problems facing this country, an old slogan comes to mind: \"You Ain't Seen Nothin\u2019 Yet.\" High unemployment, the recession and a terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan are bad enough. But there are a number of problems on the horizon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "November 2009"","block_context":{"text":"November 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/november-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}