Friday, 28 November 2008

McCain Might As Well Have Won

Yes, Jim Jones will be a better National Security Advisor than Randy Scheunemann would have been, not that that is saying very much.

But if Hillary Clinton can be Secretary of State, then Robert Kagan might as well have been.

And Obama really should have campaigned openly on a pledge to keep Robert Gates in his job. Then there might now be President-Elect Edwards.
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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous28 November 2008 at 16:32

    David, it was an open secret that Obama was going to keep Gates in his job. It was widely discussed. Everyone knew.

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  2. David Lindsay28 November 2008 at 16:34

    There's everyone and there's everyone.

    All sorts of things are "widely discussed". There's "widely" and there's "widely".

    And then there's actually doing it, which is something else entirely.

    McCain might as well have won.

    Where is the challenger for the 2012 primaries. The work should already have started by now.

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  3. Anonymous28 November 2008 at 16:36

    Here's a report from June saying Obama will keep Gates on.

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  4. Anonymous28 November 2008 at 16:38

    Here's Time's Joe Klein, also from June:

    When I asked him specifically if he would want to retain Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, Obama said, "I'm not going to let you pin me down ... but I'd certainly be interested in the sort of people who served in the first Bush Administration." Gates was George H.W. Bush's CIA director — and he has been a superb Secretary of Defense, as good in that post as his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, was awful.

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  5. David Lindsay28 November 2008 at 16:38

    All sorts of things are "reported", too. There is all the difference in the world between that and actually doing it.

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  6. Anonymous28 November 2008 at 16:40

    What did you think of the comment the other day arguing that Obama was right to keep Gates on? You didn't reply, which isn't like you.

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  7. David Lindsay28 November 2008 at 16:47

    It was a very long comment, and I was a bit pushed for time. But I will be blogging on this subject again in future, no doubt.

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  8. Anonymous28 November 2008 at 16:56

    Would be interested to know your take on the parallels between this case, where Obama certainly hinted that Gates would be kept on, and the UK situation, where Cameron has been rather less open about whether he'd welcome former Labour ministers into his Cabinet.

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  9. David Lindsay28 November 2008 at 17:01

    Cameron has been completely open about it, and has never been openly rebuffed. But that's not the topic of this thread.

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