Petraeus and Obama

A pretty good insight into what Obama will be like as commander in chief. In short, be prepared for the civilians to retake control of the military. Which will be a nice change, since GW Bush has basically ceded his responsibilities for strategic planning for about 8 years now.

Here's a description of Obama's meeting with Petraeus in Baghdad:

A "spirited" conversation ensued, one person who was in the room told me. "It wasn't a perfunctory recitation of talking points. They were arguing their respective positions, in a respectful way." The other two Senators — Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed — told Petraeus they agreed with Obama. According to both Obama and Petraeus, the meeting — which lasted twice as long as the usual congressional briefing — ended agreeably. Petraeus said he understood that Obama's perspective was, necessarily, going to be more strategic. Obama said that the timetable obviously would have to be flexible. But the Senator from Illinois had laid down his marker: if elected President, he would be in charge. Unlike George W. Bush, who had given Petraeus complete authority over the war — an unprecedented abdication of presidential responsibility (and unlike John McCain, whose hero worship of Petraeus bordered on the unseemly) — Obama would insist on a rigorous chain of command.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1853025,00.html

And is it just me, or does the name "Petraeus" make him sound like some kind of Greek god? McCain surely thinks so. I'm making fun of McCain, not Petraeus, I think the General will go down in history as one of our greatest.

But he's still just a General. It is not his job to worry about things like how our war in Iraq affects relations with Australia, and so on. That's Obama's job. Obama has to consider the bigger picture.