Obama Reportedly Taps Robert Gates, Bush's Pentagon Chief, to Stay On
He may want to shake up government, but when it comes to defense, President-elect Barack Obama has chosen to keep an old hand in charge—Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Sources close to the transition said that Gates and Obama are nearing a deal on the post. It hasn't been officially announced or confirmed by Obama's team or the Pentagon, but Gates has long been a frontrunner for the position, with his name circulating as early as the summer.
Gates, who was just picked as one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News in conjunction with the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University and was profiled here, has been praised by Democrats and Republicans for his open-mindedness and bipartisanship. When he took over after his controversial predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, he was lauded for pivoting previous policy on Iraq and stabilizing the Defense Department.
At the same time, Obama's choice of Gates brings some conundrums. One is that Obama, who campaigned on his opposition to the Iraq war, has chosen a man who runs it. Gates, however, has shown more interest than most others in the Bush administration at reducing the focus on Iraq and turning back to Afghanistan, a goal Obama has advocated for several years. Gates's supporters say that he is honored to continue serving, and that given his record of public service, working with the new president shouldn't be a problem.
Obama's choice of Gates, like his other cabinet picks, shows that while change might be his priority, he wants to achieve it with the expertise and experience of seasoned leaders. As well as Gates, sources say he's picked retired Marine Gen. James Jones to head the National Security Council, the White House committee that coordinates U.S. foreign and national security policy. Jones has criticized some of the Bush war strategy, but he brings a great deal of experience to the table as a former NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, a special Mideast peace adviser to the Bush administration, and president of the Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Energy.
And, of course, by choosing his primary campaign rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Obama has emphasized the importance of public record over chumminess, even at the possible cost—at least to his grassroots supporters—of inviting such an establishment figure into his inner circle.
Obama is expected to officially name his team of national security advisers after Thanksgiving weekend. He also is expected to unveil his board of economic advisers in a news conference today.
- Read about why Gates was chosen as a Best Leader .
- Read more about Obama's transition.
Reader Comments
blogs
Blogs are one of our pseudo-democratic new practices that are supposed to inform more broadly by giving us all a voice. But like talk radio, they are largely nothing but ideological blather and prejudice. Most of the ones I read, regardless of the site, are either hateful, paranoid, ignorant and misinformed, or any combination thereof. People use them as license to sound off without researching their topic and without reason. Ever since Rush Limbaugh inaugurated hate radio, and blogs are sadly an extension of it, we have an ever expanding forum for ad hominem, McCarthyite attacks. Bloggers are mainly interested in sounding off, not listening or learning anything. I write on this one, because it irritates me to read an article and then read a bunch of asinine comments that do not deal with the issues raised in the article but merely dump, anal expulsively. I'm tired of reading or hearing from the character assassins on the right that Obama is a communist or whatever the epithet of the day might be. We don't need more forums for these clowns' verbal violence. The "left" writers I read in the blogs invariably are offering some extreme, or wholly negative opinion based on little evidence. It would be nice if people who choose to write on line would begin to practice the ancient virtue of restraint. Probably too much to hope for in over the top America.
McCarthyism still lives
Boy , some folks on this blog sure are Dogmatic in world views ... I thought McCarthyism died out 50 years ago. Do you guys still have bomb shelters in your back yard ? Maybe we all should.
OBAMA has made many good decisions, but retaining Gates ain't one of them.
Gates has same agenda as Bush ... to push on with an unjustified was that has no defined mission -other than protect oil company interests in region at taxpayer expense.
I agree with most OBAMA policies, but retaining GATES does not send a "change" signal
Really
A communist? Why is everyone so scared about spreading the wealth. These rich, power hungry corporate CEO's are a big reason our country is failing. They are greedy & have no thought about human equality or decency they just want the fattest pile of cash they can sit on so they can look down at the rest of us shouting orders. If the rich had 5% of the passion & care for our country as a whole(not just for their own well being) as Mr Obama does maybe they would get off their fat asses & do something to help keep a capitalist America thriving than stealing millions & pinching every penny they can.
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