The big scare came when Barack Obama announced that he had accepted the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal. In his comments, the president sounded almost, er, presidential. And at the announcement, the commander-in-chief sounded and acted more like a commander-in-chief than he ever did before or is likely to in the future.
During his eight minute plus speech, Obama stated that the general’s conduct, as revealed in the magazine article, “undermines the civilian control of the military which is at the core of our military system.” It’s hard to argue with that statement. And while people can reasonably disagree about whether the conduct crossed the line, Obama is the head of the civilian control and it was his call. If anything about sacking McChrystal was shocking, it was the speed in which the president actually made the decision. This can be contrasted with the months it took him to decide on how many additional troops would be sent to Afghanistan and a lot quicker than the president’s solution to clean up the oil in the Gulf which, unlike the oil, has yet to surface since the disaster began on April 20.
By accepting McChrystal’s resignation, Barack Obama has shown that the importance of civilian control of the military is working. Other indicia of democracy have not yielded the same fruitful results. Yes, Americans were allowed to vote in free and fair elections but look where it got them. They elected a president whose major claim to fame was that he wasn’t George W. Bush and now the US in a downward slide to just another run-of-the-mill socialist country of no particular note. The United States is hardly the first country to be on the road to totalitarianism through a democratically elected leader.
It is difficult to understand those who say that Obama was wrong to dump McChrystal. Some of these criticisms imply that because McChrystal is no longer around, the mission in Afghanistan is DOOMED! Such comments make the United States look like a mediocre country whose success or failure in war is dependent upon one human being. Keeping McChrystal, who undoubtedly would have been executed for a similar faux pas in many other armies, would give comfort to the enemy by making the US appear to be weak. And to the extent that Barack Obama has worked overtime, it has been in making the United States appear weak to allies and enemies alike. Whether the war is won or not will not be dependent upon Stanley McChrystal.
The principle of the civilian control over the military is important. It is more important than who leads US and NATO troops in Afghanistan and more important than who happens to now be in charge of that civilian control. If civilian control over the military can be ignored or even marginalized then the US might as well go all the way; let the military have control and, like a third world country that the United States is heading towards, the military could stage a coup and overthrow the government.
Come to think of it, a coup that was handled properly might be the best thing that could happen in the US. The military could suspend the constitution and take Obama into custody. They could ship him off to Guantanamo; that would teach him to campaign on the promise of closing Gitmo and then reneging on that promise. The left would get a good chuckle out of that one.
The military leaders could bow to the will of the people (something the current administration is loathe to do) and put Hillary Clinton into office who would have probably been the country’s second choice had she been allowed to run for president on the Democrat ticket. Hillary’s presidency would end up being much like Bill’s. At least the nature and fabric of the United States was not any different when Bill Clinton left office than when he was sworn on January 20, 1993.
The congress could be left the same as long as Pelosi and Reid are politely asked to move to the center, shown pictures of Gitmo, and told that there does not appear to be a “No Vacancy” sign anywhere around.
Although the notion of a coup taking place in the United States is farfetched, it is always a possibility when the principle of civilian control over the military is neglected.
Obama made the right decision regarding McChrystal. Now if he would only decide how to clean up the oil in the Gulf.
