Top 10 Revelations From Robert Gates’s Memoir

Wall Street Journal ^ | January 7, 2014 | Dion Nissenbaum

[Zakeet]

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is releasing his memoir, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” a 600-page book that offers a stark, insider’s view of Washington, the Pentagon, Congress and America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (You can read an exclusive WSJ excerpt.) Here’s a look at some of the book’s most riveting revelations:

1. Contempt for Congress Mr. Gates expresses open disdain for Congress and the way lawmakers treated him when he testified at hearings. “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.” Mr. Gates said he fantasized about storming out of hearings and quitting. “There is no son of a bitch in the world who can talk to me like that,” he writes of his fantasy.

2. Contempt for Vice President Biden Mr. Gates expresses particular dissatisfaction with Vice President Joe Biden. He describes Mr. Biden as a “man of integrity” who “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Specifically, Mr. Gates said he opposed Mr. Biden’s proposed limited strategy in Afghanistan to focus on counter-terrorism: “Whac-A-Mole hits on Taliban leaders weren’t a long term strategy,” he writes.

[Zakeet]

For some mysterious reason, Gates thinks the Royal Oaf is a clueless idiot!

[Da Coyote]

Here’s a quickie summary:
1. Obama is unbelievably stupid.
2. Obama is unbelievably dishonest.
3. Obama is unbelievably corrupt.
4. Obama is unbelievably uneducated.
5. Obama is unbelievably lazy.
6. Obama has contributed less to the country than ANY military man or woman...none of whom respects the miserable piece of excrement.

There, quick, easy, and the ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

[rarestia]

None of this is really a surprise to me, but hearing it being said is refreshing. Further, and on a tangentially unrelated note, I believe the term “neo-con” is overused, as is typical of most liberal linguistics.

[Lee'sGhost]

Well done. And spot on.

[TexasCajun]

#11 - The most powerful person in the White House is not who you think!

[kjam22]

I really think Obammy is just the figurehead. He reads the scripts they write for him. He gives the speeches. In return he gets to “live the dream”..... MS Obammy gets to spend $$$$ and live the dream. He has no part in really running this country. That’s my guess.

[Yaelle]

Omgosh I wrote a post exactly like this yesterday. I’ll see if I can find it. Funny. But I do agree with you.

[ifinnegan]

You forgot: “but Hillary’s great!”.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[Yaelle]

Sorry on a
Phone so I didn’t get yesterday’s date but this was my post yesterday on the rush Limbaugh thinks Obama is an economic idiot thread.

Yaelle to Sub-Driver
Most people would be ashamed that even one’s enemies thought of them as stupid.

I think that as long as Obama gets what he wants, he simply doesn’t care. I’m not sure what his underlying desires out of all this are, though I am sure it has something to do with BEING A STAR, famous and beloved.

[Rockitz]

Here’s what I got from this.

BHO = all politics, all the time and much more involved than he lets on. He’s definitely impeachable based on these revelations.

Gates = CYA memoir, incompetent, should have quit in protest much sooner, but needed the job.

Biden = As advertised.

[LibertarianLiz]

3. Suspicion of White House Control Mr. Gates described the White House and its national security team as too controlling and says that he found himself at odds with Mr. Obama’s inner circle. At one meeting in the Oval Office in 2011, Mr. Gates said he considered resigning because of the White House micromanagement and strategy. “I never confronted Obama directly over what I (as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-CIA Director Leon Panetta and others) saw as his determination that the White House tightly control every aspect of national security policy and even operations,” Mr. Gates writes. “His White House was by far the most centralized and controlling in national security of any I had seen since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger ruled the roost” in the 1970s.

Is it just me, or does this, kind of, destroy his "I know nothing" defense as regards the NSA spying scandal?

[sarasota]

You are not guessing: He is a figurehead, groomed by his handlers for years ahead of the election. The new mayor of NY? Same story. He and his wife both worked for the Clintons and presto! I fear that Hillary in ‘16 is virtually a lock.

[7thson]

Two things stand out for me. One is this “There is no son of a bitch in the world who can talk to me like that,” he writes of his fantasy. And yet they did talk to him like that and he took it, over and over. His job and perks were more important to him than his integrity, which I believe he severely lacks.

The other is this - “His White House was by far the most centralized and controlling in national security of any I had seen since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger ruled the roost” in the 1970s. I was under the naive assumption that DoD, DoS, et al., worked for the President. The White House. In my mind, regardless of which party controls the Presidency, this has been a long standing problem – the various departments within the Executive Branch feel free to do whatever the hell they want to do without bothering to listen/pay attention to the White House.

One last thing is this - Mr. Gates writes that his reputation for having an even temper often masked his outrage and contempt. “I did not enjoy being secretary of defense,” he writes. And yet he never left. I guess it is hard to give up that salary and other DoD perks. What a low-life hypocrite.

[Rockitz]

That’s my understanding as well and I noted in my post# 11.

[ontap]

Here’s what I got from this.

Here’s what I got from this!!!! Unbelievable POS occupying the Whitehouse!!!!

[kjam22]

I agree. Unless something remarkable changes... I think Hillary is lock. She'll be better than what we've got. (never thought I would say that) We've got some guys and gals on our side that would be great leaders. But we're way out numbered. Really, we become more out numbered every day. The "claim every handout" culture is multiplying faster.... and it finally realizes it can vote to take money away from everyone else.

[Buckeye McFrog]

should have quit in protest much sooner, but needed the job.

I thought he was running the University of Texas when Bush put the arm on him to replace Rumsfeld. Surely there was some other cushy job waiting for him in academia.

[TADSLOS]

I thought he was running the University of Texas when Bush put the arm on him to replace Rumsfeld

Texas A&M

[MestaMachine]

In case you missed it.

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