I was hoping Obama would ask Gates to stay on, and that Gates would agree. He’s done excellent work and I trust him to continue to do so.

Obama thought he needed a white man (yes I went there) and someone with some foreign policy experience. Obama won the election and no longer needs the blowhard, not that he ever needed him. He may have been the least effective campaigner in history too.

Gates staying on as Sec Def is a very, very good sign. I have met the man, I broke bread with the man, he is a man that cares about our forces. I know at some point he will stand up to Obama and his minions, I just hope the Messiah listens.

We can only hope Obama is more like Clinton than say Lenin. We can only hope that Obama wants power and to be loved, if that is the case, the damage might be a slight bit less than we thought. I am not making any predictions, only stating a best case scenario.

I like seeing that Gates will continue on as SecDef, he’s done a good job of putting the place back together post Rummie.

Obama may be shrewder than we all thought, with this pick of Gates. But also remember that Bush kept Tenet as CIA director, and look what it did for him. Remember “Slam Dunk?”

And with Biden, do they have a Delay Plaza in Delaware?

By JONATHAN S. LANDAY

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A former senior U.S. intelligence official Tuesday withdrew from consideration for a top intelligence post in the new Obama administration amid protests from liberal groups linking him to the Bush administration’s "enhanced interrogation" and secret transfers of terrorism suspects to nations that torture prisoners and political opponents….

A former senior intelligence official familiar with the matter said that Brennan made his decision after he received signals from senior Obama transition officials that they were reconsidering his nomination because of the criticism of his tenure at the agency by liberal commentators, bloggers and others.

"The decision not to fight would not have been Brennan’s," said the former senior intelligence official, who asked to remain unnamed because of the sensitivity of the issue. "He’s not the kind of guy who would run away from a fight."

Insanity surfaces.

I saw Joe Biden just last weekend. His picture was on a milk carton.

Seems the Constitution gets in the way, something about a Senator voting for a pay raise for the slot you are appointed to… Even Sen Byrd says it’s a nogo situation.

Article 1 Sec 6 Part 2 has the details.
More discussion here …
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/wouldhillarysappointmenttosecretaryofstatebeunconstitutional/

There’s an (unintentionally) funny piece in the NY Slimes about how Lonesome Joe is adjusting to reality . He has told friends that he understands that he will not be the foreign policy go-to guy in the administration now that the new team is in place, especially Clinton as SecState.

Yes, Joe is now adjusting to reality, refurbishing his judicial committee credentials and boning up on economics, since he will have no role in national security policy. Also no role in health care (Daschle is the czar there). Joe has been given no portfolio or area of responsibility such as that given to Gore in the Clinton Administrtion, or Cheney in Bush II. He has no role and will be hanging around the Senate like Harry Truman did in the 4th Roosevelt term, clueless and out of the loop. I think Madam Secretary will be horning in on all the good funerals, too.

During the campaign, Obama obviously wised up to the weakness of Biden — and Democrats in general — on national secuirty issues.

Obama finds himself in the unusual position of inheriting a successful war in Iraq (which he has based his Presidential campaign around undermining)and a losing war in Afghanistan (which he has promised to fight, escalate, and win). And this is not to mention his promise to invade an ally, Pakistan.

What to do? Pretty much what he has done: Put Gates, Petraeus, Jones, Mullen and Clinton in charge. In exchange, hope that Obama gets some credit (undeserved) for allowing the win in Iraq to stand, and some credibility when he backs down in Afghanistan and admits that actually, we don’t need to invade Pakistan, we are doing a great job on Al Qaeda with actionable intel + Predator drones…

In short, pretty much the first McCain term, at least as far as national security goes.