It wasn't that clear cut. Technically Halsey's third fleet at Leyte took direct orders from Nimitz, nevertheless US losses in the Phillipines were 13,973 KIA, to say nothing of Australian, New Zealand, Phillipine losses which were technically under MacArthurs command.
As to the "political charge" in a total war, often unfortunately, the final word is with the politicians and generals have to live with that.
Patton actually captured a large chunk of what would become Eastern Germany, the Czech republic and Austria. As another poster noted the politicians gave it away at Yalta, probably the work of Harry Hopkins.