Competence is generally (no pun intended) assumed in Flag Officers, excellence is another matter. Some senior military officers have genuine partisan political loyalties, often based on family history. Others (e.g. Wesley Clark) are simply opportunists (in their military and post-retirement endeavors), who will conform to the prevailing winds to get ahead. Many, in the best tradition of Cincinnatus and William T. Sherman, avoid politics in and out of uniform. To say that there weren't more than a few flag officers who didn't "conform" to get themselves noticed during the Clinton years is a bit naive or disingenuous.
"To say that there weren't more than a few flag officers who didn't "conform" to get themselves noticed during the Clinton years is a bit naive or disingenuous."
Well, sure.
Generals are military politicians, when you get right down to it.
Still, I didn't like the inference that BECAUSE these generals became generals during the Clinton Administration, that they were therefore incompetent pantywaists. I think that's not true.
They may have been quite competent generals, even, some of them anyway. But they're partisan hacks now that they're ex-generals.