Not everyone in the Bush Administration will be out on their behinds on Jan. 20. Barack Obama is considering keeping on Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Gates, a former CIA head, has received widespread praise for his work as defense secretary since replacing Donald Rumsfeld.
Since he has led the Pentagon since 2006, Gates could be the person best situated to coordinate Obama's plan to withdraw from Iraq and increase troops in Afghanistan. Even so, keeping a Republican who has been leading Bush's war policy may take the team of rivals idea a bit too far.
Is Obama responsible and wise to keep on Gates in order to make the transition of power and situation in the Middle East run smoothly, or does a new direction require a new person in such an important cabinet position?
DAY Birger et Mikkelsen
Marc O'Polo
Just Cavalli
Obama is definitely following through on his promise to listen to all sides in order to make the most informed (as opposed to ideologically originated and immovable) decisions, and it's impressive that he would consider Gates. I wonder what Gates thinks about pulling out of Iraq and refocusing on Afghanistan, though--it might be counterproductive if he's not willing to make that adjustment in the war policy.
1If Gates backs up his talk that the Pentagon gets too much money by offering a scaled back budget for 2010, I'd say keep him.
2Good choice, hope it turns out.
3He said that he will have one Republican in his cabinet, and I think this is one position I can see him doing so, especially since Gates has received non-partisan praise since replacing the pathetic Rumsfeld.
4That definitely seems like a good move.
5Gig 'em!
6Given the delicacy of the timing, I think its wise that he keeps Gates.
Not everyone in a given administration is automatically BAD at what they did, simply because of the president that was over their head at the time.
To automatically NOT consider anyone from the Bush administration would be quite partisan, discounting people for something unrelated to their actual abilities, and I think its good he can look past that and ask himself who is best for each position, given the current global climate.
So, Gates is a thoughtful choice I think, (it can't be worse than Rumsfeld - he was an effing JOKE, it has to be said), and Gates has cross-party respect, and the knowledge of the situation at hand. Just because he led Bush's war policy doesn't mean he will make the exact same choices or act the same way in another administration; quite the contrary, it may give both sides of the table the opportunity to engage in intelligent discourse at a high level about this - and might yield a better result for the country than the "everyone on the same team or you are anti-patriotic" did.
7This would be a good decision.
Interesting that he said only 1 person in cabinet would be Republican. It's not exactly a Team of Rivals. Though if he chooses Clinton she might count.
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