Where will Obama blow up next?
British Petroleum, General McChrystal, it’s not looking good for the supposedly cool President Obama. Gen McChrystal had built up a strong bond with President Karzai of Afghanistan and transformed the campaign into something more structured and positive. He gave strict orders to Nato forces to avoid civilian casualties at all costs and engage the local population in the Nato mission. Now, because of ill placed comments mainly made by McChrystal’s aides, comments which expose the true nature of the White House inner sanctum squabbling, the President has ignominiously dismissed his Chief of Campaign. A decision for the sake of national security? I don’t think so. More like an egotistical and reactionary attempt to save face. As soldiers die daily in the burning heat and hell of Afghanistan, the White House appears to be more concerned with keeping the underlying tensions between the military and politicians under wraps. It was a mistake to ditch the clear sighted and highly committed General McChrystal. He was making credible headway and had established important trust with key players in the region. Obama should have thought of a different way of dealing with his embarrassment. He has been faced with two major issues in the space of a few months, the tragic oil spill and the lambasting article in The Rolling Stone. Both have been handled with the slippery gloves of the English goal keeper Robert Green, who let the ball through his unconfident hands and lost the match for England. Obama needs to deal with a crisis in some other way than the slippery blame game and throwing his weight about. Something more constructive and creative. And isn’t it ironical that he has now entrusted the Afghan War to Gen Petraeus, a man whose surge in Iraq he absolutely opposed, as he secured the Democratic nomination for the White House on the back of his anti-war credentials. 