CNN is reporting this morning that Gen Stanley McChrystal is likely to announce his resignation after his meeting with President Obama today. The story provides only one source for the speculation. And meanwhile, multiple sources agree that Obama is the one who will decide McChrystal’s fate after the two men meet in the Oval Office today.
Michael Barone has a feeling that McChrystal is on his way out, but as he rightly points out, the general’s departure does nothing to solve the problem of Afghanistan. Obama was against the war before it became the “good” war (in contrast to Iraq that is). He chose civilian leaders who reject the military’s analysis of the fight and disagree with the proposed solution. He split the difference with McChrystal on the “surge” agreeing to the strategy in principle but with 10,000 fewer troops than McChrystal had requested and with the addition of a withdrawal deadline that was always unwise and unrealistic. Ultimately, this is Obama’s war and he’s got to try to win it, as reluctant as he may be.
“If Gen. McChrystal has to go, as seems likely as this is written, then it may be time to consider other changes in personnel.
And it may be time for Obama to embrace a word he has been reluctant to utter: Victory. His duty is to set a course that will produce success, to install the people who can achieve that goal and to give them the backing they need.
We didn’t need this, and Obama didn’t either. But he wanted the job, and now he must command,” Barone demands.