There is speculation in Washington that President-elect Obama will keep Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the Defense Department as part of the Obama administration. That speculation has been fueled by Obama's team. For the latest article on this subject, click here. The article states, "[The] Wall Street Journal cited two unnamed Obama advisers Tuesday as saying the president-elect was leaning towards keeping Gates."
Robert Gates was an excellent choice to be Secretary of Defense. He was director of the CIA under the first President Bush and has dedicated his career to intelligence and defense issues. He has won great praise as the Secretary of Defense since taking the job from Secretary Rumsfeld. President-elect Obama should keep him in place because he is a highly qualified leader of the Defense Department during a time of war.
But...
I am absolutely astounded at his possibly doing so. And, most importantly, the liberal media that is so in love with President-elect Obama has given Obama a free pass on this!
Let me explain.
Obama won the primary fight with Sen. Clinton riding a wave of anti-war sentiment. Before the economy and energy took center stage, Obama had the "correct" Democratic view on the war because he had come out against it. His entire campaign was centered around criticizing the Bush administration and this war. He was critical of every aspect of Bush's foreign policy and his defense policy. Now, he is thinking about keeping Republican Bush appointee Secretary Gates at the most powerful cabinet position in the world? Really?
I wonder how Barack Obama would have fared with his core constituency had he said, "Once elected, I will leave President Bush's choice for Secretary of Defense in place." Can you imagine? What would the liberals have done with that? President-elect Obama ran a campaign against everything George W. Bush did.
The media is giving President-elect Obama an absolute free pass on this and that comes as no surprise to those of us that watched them root Obama all the way to the Presidency.
