"Team of Bumblers" Politico

"... But it’s clear the finger-pointing between the White House and Pentagon reflects no mere technicality. Both examples cited to me by well-placed sources close to the Defense Department offer new evidence of a criticism that has dogged this administration for most of its six and a half years: that Barack Obama’s White House is so insular and tightly controlled it often avoids “outside” consultation—including with its own cabinet secretaries and agencies. That’s especially true when the issue is one of this president’s least favorite things: opening up new hostilities in foreign lands. To his critics—and I spoke with several for this article inside Obama’s administration as well as recent veterans of it—it’s all a reflection of the slapdash way a president so vested in “ending wars” has embraced his new one.

Indeed, the Syrian-rebel incident recalled a more famous instance of White House surprise tactics a year earlier, when after a stroll on the White House lawn with chief of staff Denis McDonough, Obama embarrassed Kerry by abruptly deciding to ask for congressional approval for bombing the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad—only hours after Kerry had publicly declared that Assad was facing imminent action. Ironically, Congress quickly balked at approval, humiliating Obama," Politico

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These two articles encapsulate the criticism circulating in Washington with regard to the ineptitude of Obama's government in the foreign policy field.  Examples of the childish naivete of this administration are many and quite a few are recorded in these articles. 

As I have written many times, this is a foreign policy team dominated by inexperience and/or an obsession with academic thinking derived from too much time spent in college and not enough real world time on the ground in the places they theorize about.

Martin Dempsey is the one shining exception in this government.  God help us when he leaves.

pl 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/susan-rice-chuck-hagel-team-of-bumblers-112208.html#ixzz3HdYc76wI 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/world/middleeast/mounting-crises-raise-questions-on-capacity-of-obamas-team.html?_r=0

 

Comments

[Tyler]

AE,

Obama is the third and fourth terms of the Bush Administration, just the players have changed.

I get annoyed when people who were blinded by hopey changey BS try to throw Bush at me like a shield. I voted for Kerry, ffs. I never cast a vote for a Bush in my life, and likely never will.

[alba etie]

Tyler
Who do you like for 2016 ?

[Charles Dekle]

TTG,
I second your motion. More critical thinkers with real experience and less shiny stars.
Regards,

[Thomas]

Walrus,

At the beginning of the Temporary Emperor's Exceptional Reign, you asked if anyone knew him. I was talking with a neighbor recently who socializes in academic circles if she knew any one who did and she said they were friends with on of his former professors. The friend's assessment was Barack was a good man and would have been a fine city mayor, but did not believe his disposition was suited for the rough and tumble world of international politics (more popular professor than politician).

[Tyler]

AE,

Gonna rustle some jimmies with this one but:

Sen. Ted Cruz with Sen. Jeff Sessions as head of DHS.

[Tyler]

AE,

However I would vote for Putin in a heartbeat.

[bth]

On the theory that one must follow the money, this article on Kurdish oil exports and pipeline connections to the north and to the south. http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/281020142 So Sunni arab portioins of Iraq/Syria are having their production disrupted especially in refined gasoline, the Kurds are linking up with new capacity. Food for thought. ... I suspect next we will see new trucking routes through Kurdish areas from Turkey to southern Iraq.