Obama as commander in chief

[Bilge_Rat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/wo...1&ref=politics

WASHINGTON — President Obama rushed to the Oval Office when word arrived one night that militants with Al Qaeda in Yemen had been located and that the military wanted to support an attack by Yemeni forces. After a quick discussion, his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, told him the window to strike was closing.

"I've got two minutes here," Mr. Brennan said.

“O.K.,” the president said. “Go with this.”

Mr. Obama has made a point of seeking his own information, scribbling questions in memo margins and scouring the Internet. At one meeting, he surprised the generals by citing a study of post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers serving repeat tours.

“He reads a lot,” said General Jones, the national security adviser. “He studies issues before he comes to the table. That’s another thing the military mind, if there is such a thing, appreciates. When he sits down to talk about an issue, he’s done his homework.”

Facing relentless and elusive foes, Mr. Obama has turned increasingly to the sort of strikes he authorized in Yemen and the drones in Pakistan, a form of warfare with little risk to American lives even though critics question its wisdom, effectiveness or even morality.

But Mr. Obama also confronts the consequences of the direct combat he has ordered. Last year, he flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to greet soldiers’ coffins. During a later meeting with advisers, Mr. Obama expressed irritation at doubters of his commitment. “If I didn’t think this was something worth doing,” he said, “one trip to Dover would be enough to cause me to bring every soldier home. O.K.?”

In March, during his only trip to Afghanistan in office, he met a wounded soldier, maybe 19, who had lost three limbs. “I go into a place like this, I go to Walter Reed — it’s just hard for me to think of anything to say,” an emotional Mr. Obama told advisers as he left.

The moment stuck with him. Three months later, after ousting General McChrystal, Mr. Obama marched into the Situation Room and cited the teenage triple amputee as he reprimanded advisers for the infighting that had led to the general’s forced resignation. “We have a lot of kids on the ground acting like adults and we have a lot of adults in this room acting like kids,” he lectured.

The schisms among his team, though, are born in part out of uncertainty about his true commitment. His reticence to talk much publicly about the wars may owe to the political costs of alienating his base as well as the demands of other issues. Senior Pentagon and military officials said they understood that he presided over a troubled economy, but noted that he was not losing 30 American soldiers a month on Wall Street.

this should be interesting...

[SteamWake]

The position doesent really lend itself to on the job trainnig.

Mr. Obama's past 'training' as a community orginizer is a far cry from the stark realitys of war.

[Platapus]

Sounds like he is doing a pretty good job. I like a CinC who thinks and does his own research as opposed to one who just reacts.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Sounds like he is doing a pretty good job. I like a CinC who thinks and does his own research as opposed to one who just reacts.

I have to agree . Though, i don't care who's in office, i just want the guy to be logical, pragmatic, and think things through entirely. If he reacts purely on a moral basis, or just "reacts" without a through examination of all the factors involved, i wouoldn't want him calling the shots.

[ETR3(SS)]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Sounds like he is doing a pretty good job. I like a CinC who thinks and does his own research as opposed to one who just reacts.

I too would have to agree with this. Making an informed decision is the best type of decision you can make. Also I haven't heard any accounts of micromanagement, which is another good thing. Just because you're the CinC, doesn't mean you have to be a LBJ.

[Oberon]

It's a fine line between doing your own research and asking questions and slipping into micromanagement. Seems Obama is staying on the right side of it so far.