Posted on 09/23/2010 3:16:07 PM PDT by Qbert
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has no plans to stay on at the Pentagon through the end of President Obama’s first term in office.
Gates, whose service now spans one Republican and one Democratic administration, told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday that he has already made up his mind about his departure date, but refused to disclose any more details.
Gates told Foreign Policy magazine earlier this year that the logical point for his departure would be in 2011 to give the president enough time to pick the appropriate successor before the 2012 reelection season starts in earnest.
“Having a confirmation process in the early spring of 2012 in the middle of a presidential election year is probably not the wisest thing either,” Gates said at the Pentagon press briefing.
When asked whether he would consider extending his tenure through the end of Obama’s first term in 2012, Gates said: “Not in my thinking.”
Gates has been the Pentagon chief since December 18, 2006.
Gates also dodged the question of whether he plans to stay through July 2011—a key marker in the administration’s Afghanistan strategy. July 2011 is the date when some U.S. troops will start withdrawing from Afghanistan depending on conditions on the ground at that time.
He already has HIS exit strategy!!!
You can run, but you cannot hide! ;)
Another one hitting the door?
When is the kitchen staff going to quit?
By 2012 someone will make the mother of all Hitler Bunker (Anthony Hopkins) clips!
It's nice to know that politics is the number one factor in decision-making going on in Washington.
“He already has HIS exit strategy!!!”
Good one. :-)
Now that’s good news.....
Somebody tell me...does Gates have an R or a D after his name? I forgot.
Now we just need Obama to announce he is not going to stay through the end of Obama first term, and we will be all set.
I sure hope Obama is able to hang....... onto his TelePrompTer crew.
So in addition to his entire economic team who are bailing out well before the elections, Premier Hussein is going to be faced with appointing a new SecDef as well.
Only problem with that is that SecDef has to be approved by the Senate; no recess appointments here Boys and Girls. So the question becomes, who will step up and be willing to press with the Regime’s strategeries, and who can also survive the confirmation hearings?
I’m beginning to hear the media wonder if Hussein will “pivot” to “the middle” the same way Clinton did after he got his ass kicked in his first mid-term election. Clinton moved to the right because no matter what, he always has been a very good politician who comes by the name “Slick Willie” honestly. Say what you will (and we all frequently do here) but Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas and by comparison is light years beyond Hussein in real world experience.
I’m about 99% sure that Premier Hussein isn’t capable of doing a so-called pivot like Clinton because he isn’t smart enough to even begin to know how to do that. With all of the advisors who got him elected in the first place running for the lifeboats and leaving him standing alone with only his teleprompter, who is going to be willing to come in and bail his arse out? He is already in full campaign mode but the Democrats are running for the exits and not one of the cowardly bastards will run a campaign based on the “success” of this Regime.
I thought it was fortunate for the Nation that Gates stayed on, no matter what the policy has been for the last 20 months. Obama bought himself a break by keeping George W. Bush’s SecDef on, but breaktime is over. Now he needs to turn the search on for a new SecDef at the same time the people who ought to be assisting in that effort are heading for the weeds.
We have an unstable narcissistic Progressive “Professor” trying to socially engineer the entire world in his image, and I don’t think he knows how to back down or pivot anywhere other than where his overblown ego leads him. That is a recipe for disaster and I believe the Republic is in more danger now than at any time since the Civil War ended; and the obvious shakeup going on in the Regime only lends confidence to our enemies and puts our Troops in even more jeopardy.
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
In the end all he will have left is his garden and his big back wife.
Obama has no clue or any idea who he could get to replace Roberts Gates as Secretary of Defense. This is sad, but true.
Allow me to prognosticate...actually this one’s easy, a no brainer....It’s gonna be Lindsay Graham. It maintains the “image” of bipartisanship, and McCain will get him through the confirmation process, and he does have a military background. Doesn’t change the balance of power ( Haley will appt a staunch conservative) in the Senate, so the GOP won’t object, and it gives Graham an escape parachute from a losing primary battle in 2014..
If he believes in what Obama is doing he should stay. If he doesn’t he shouldn’t be helping him out by concerning himself with helping him look good for the next Presidential election. These people seem so schizophrenic. You have to wonder what goes on behind the scene.
Betcha’ Lindsey gets it.
I don’t think so. Lindsay Graham doesn’t want a job with responsibilities. He wants one where he can still show up on the Sunday talk shows every weekend just to feed his ego.
“Obama has no clue or any idea who he could get to replace Roberts Gates as Secretary of Defense. This is sad, but true.”
That’s true, but I don’t think he much cares. He’ll probably just appoint somebody to pander to some demographic group like he does with all of his other picks.
5 minutes ahead of you..great minds think alike..LOL
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