Posted on 01/08/2014 8:58:35 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Former White House officials on Wednesday rushed to defend President Obama against scathing criticism from former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
In his new memoir, Gates wrote the president did not believe in his own strategy in Afghanistan, and that for him, it was “all about getting out.”
Former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley said Gates shouldn’t have released his memoir while the war in Afghanistan is still being fought.
“It’s one thing as historians look back on an administration, but in the middle of it, when you’re pursuing a war at the same time, and one that is controversial with the American people and has been very difficult on our military, I think it’s just a disservice to be very frank with you,” Daley said Wednesday on CBS’s “This Morning.”
“I understand while everyone wants to get out there and write a book and get on the circuit, but I think it’s unfortunate,” Daley said, while emphasizing he had respect for the former Defense chief.
In the coming book “Duty: Memories of a Secretary at War,” Gates said that some White House staff took “micromanagement and operational meddling to a new level.”
David Axelrod, another former White House advisor, on Wednesday said Obama was “very committed" to the mission in Afghanistan.
“I don’t think that is true” to say otherwise, Axelrod said on NBC’s “Today,” adding that it always seemed Obama and Gates had a good “working relationship.”
In the book, Gates also alleged that Hillary Clinton and Obama both admitted that they opposed the 2007 surge in Iraq for political reasons. In Obama’s case, Gates writes that the president “vaguely” conceded the point.
Axelrod said there was never any political discussion about his opposition to the Iraq surge, maintaining that Obama opposed the war from the beginning.
“I’m not suggesting that he made things up to sell a book, but I think the language that he used, for example on that Iraq story, was vague and it was subjective,” Axelrod said. "And there was no declaration on the president's part that he made that decision on a political basis."
The White House has already pushed back on parts of the book. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Obama is committed to the mission in Afghanistan and winding down the war at the end of the year. She noted deliberations about the policy had been widely reported.
“The president deeply appreciates Bob Gates' service as Secretary of Defense and his life,” the statement continued. “As has always been the case, the president welcomes differences of view among his national security team, which broaden his options and enhance our policies.”
Even departed from the castle of the tyrant, the minions still have to defend him, lest the castle contractor ogres dispense them.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men...
Oh NOES!
The Democrats are having a Civil War!
Whatever will they do when their party is split in two?
Will Mrs. Bill Clinton be harmed by this?
Will the Leftstream Media side with Hilly or Barry?
Transparent TRUTH is such a cruel master!
Could the Democrats be headed for disaster?
Of course they do. As will Congress after reading this:
“Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country.”
Gates is a truth teller and we all know what happens to them.
Good for Gates.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMBULANCE!
I’m sure the full fury and power of the NSA, EPA and IRS will be used against Mr. Gates.
It’ll be very hard for these hacks to rebut a fairly well-respected SecDef who’s (finally) telling it like it is.
It was when Eill Rogers started just making sport of politicians (on the radio, mostly) that the folks just took the whole gubmint thing as a joke...now you see what electing fools and idiots can lead to...but left alone for such a long time...anything can happem...and has!
let this be a lesson to us...and any survivors..if any...
Semper WTF!
;)
*****
I predicted this. This is just the _start_ of the _beginning_ of the TORRENT of tell-alls that are waiting in the wings for when these jerks are deposed and completely discredited. Even the best “damage control” teams don’t help on a ship when it’s been hit by 10 torpedoes at once.
This is all so much Kibuki theater designed to benefit the Witch of Benghazi.
“Gates shouldn’t have released his memoir while the war in Afghanistan is still being fought.”
This is similar in principle to “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation”...
Drip...drip...drip goes the dam...
Why? It looks as if he didn’t do anything to Obama.
I am not afraid of the wicked witch.
1. Too old by 2016.
2. Too tainted.
The trashing of Gates has begun.
One can only hope.
I’m going to closely watch to see which Obamacrat RINOs try to defend their bff Obama.
Boehner should be among the first Obamacrat RINOs to answer US President Valerie Jarret’s call for lie assistance to protect her teleprompter speaker, Barry Slimy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.