The Presidental Cabinet 2.0: 'The Gates Are Closed' Edition

[Matt]

Because bumping the old one would activate the evil Thread Manager.

What better time to make a new thread though, then a time when one of our highest cabinet positions is changing?

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Announces Resignation

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/27/gates-leave-pentagon-end-june-officials-say/

He will be replaced by CIA head Leon Panetta who will be replaced at the CIA by Four Star General David Petraeus (the man who turned around the war in Iraq and has been commanding forces in Afghanistan), who will be retiring from the Army after a career of nearly forty years.

Gates' resignation is a big loss to our country, IMO. As I said in the Obama thread, if either Obama's or Bush's legacies are positive from a military perspective it is due to Gates. Gates is a true patriot. If he were to declare his candidacy for the Presidency, I would back him without question.

His successor on the other hand is the definition of a politician. Panetta is a Washington insider through and through. He has ignored the fact that his CIA drones have been killing more civilians in the Middle East than enemies because it is a politically inconvenient fact. I don't like his appointment to SecDef a bit. If anything, it should've been offered to General Petraeus, who like Gates, has shown that he is a leader first, and a politician second.

 

[Kelly]

This administration doesn't like leadership, it squashes even the hint of leadership. It revolves around and swims in....politics.

 

[Paradoxium]

Leon Panetta sounds very Obama'ish as far as picks go. That said probably more than half of the people who voted Obama probably doesn't even know who Gates is.

 

[Kelly]

I would venture to say that a good number of those that voted for Obama even knew who he was running against, or understood anything other than...."I'm going to get Obama money"....so yeah, I could believe what you are saying is true...

 

[Matt]

This administration doesn't like leadership, it squashes even the hint of leadership. It revolves around and swims in....politics.

There's a lot of unfortunate truth to that.

Leon Panetta sounds very Obama'ish as far as picks go. That said probably more than half of the people who voted Obama probably doesn't even know who Gates is.

That too.

 

[Matt]

I'm hearing that the CIA found and killed Bin Laden, perhaps Panetta deserves the job after all.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I'm hearing that the CIA found and killed Bin Laden, perhaps Panetta deserves the job after all.

haha, touché!