How Will the Military Approach Obama?

[babylonsister]

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=74043220171685E1CCAB5EEA578AF5CD?diaryId=2161

How Will the Military Approach Obama?
by: Brandon Friedman
Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 01:41:40 AM EST


As with any change of command, there's plenty of stress to go around regarding the new President-Elect--on both sides of the aisle. That said, Obama seems to be getting off on the right foot with the right people.

From the Politico:

Senior officers will be ready to follow the orders of Obama, who has not stirred any detectable negative response in the military command, said Dov Zakheim, who was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon comptroller. And if they balk, one former senior officer pointed out, there are plenty of other officers to be promoted.

President Bush wasn't shy about using the military, but his relationship with top military commanders was sometimes sour, particularly over issues related to the war in Iraq.

Early on, Bush deferred to Rumsfeld, his first defense secretary, who dumped Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki after he told Congress more troops were required for the invasion of Iraq. And while active-duty generals muted public criticism for the rest of Bush's term, retired generals spoke out.

In 2004, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni raised early concerns about the execution of the war. Then in 2006, six retired generals went public with their concerns.

Bush responded with a surge of forces, and extended officers' tours of duty from 12 to 15 months for a force already strained by multiple, lengthy deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

In his book "The War Within," Bob Woodward detailed how that decision was made over the objections of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And failing to listen to military advice is one of the easiest ways to burn a bridge with the military, said Zakheim, now a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton.

Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, one of the revolting generals, supported New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's ill-fated run for the Democratic presidential nomination before becoming an adviser to Obama. But after a recent Obama national security team meeting in Richmond, Va., Eaton said he had been impressed by Obama's listening skills.

What led to the generals' revolt, Eaton said, was that Bush had consolidated too much power in Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. And when power is tightly held, Eaton said, the result is a "very myopic view of the world and foreign policy."

In any case, I would expect this transition to be relatively smooth. The Pentagon has more in common with Obama than Bush--especially when we talk about focusing more on Afghanistan and Pakistan than on Iraq and how to deal with Iran. I would be surprised to see much military resistance at all on those major issues.

[annabanana]

1. The professionals in the Military will behave

professionally. The ideologues will appear respectful and begin attempts to undermine his authority as soon as his back is turned.

[Parche]

2. By Marching Towards him?

:shrug: :hi:

[Dennis Donovan]

3. I think the military will be very relieved to be finally dealing with someone sane...

:thumbsup:

[Recursion]

4. Sorry, I ask this as a military guy...

...are people on this board under the impression that a whole lot of people in the military liked George W. or George H. W. Bush?

[babylonsister]

5. I'm not. This is all so new with a new president, I'm just trying

to get opinions from wherever I can. I try to hit VetVoice daily as a matter of course because this illegal occupation remains a huge deal to me that I want to see end.

[Recursion]

10. There's definitely a socially-conservative skew in the military, to some extent

But I just mean the Bush family in particular really, really ruffles a lot of feathers the wrong way in the military. Obama will be fine. There was this myth that the military hated Clinton, which wasn't really true (people weren't jumping for joy about him or anything, but nobody really seemed to care). A lot depends on who he picks for SecDef, and the next Joint Chiefs cycle, I guess.

[theoldman]

8. I would guess that only a few officers liked Bush.

For some reason Bush thought he knew more than the guys with many years of experience.

[drm604]

14. I think a lot of people on here have the impression that military people always like Republicans

and have no respect for Democrats.

I personally have suspected for a while that a large percentage of the enlisted people, and some officers, loath George Bush.

I have no idea how they felt about his father.

Are you saying that there is a lot of dislike for both Bush and his father?

[Recursion]

15. Neither listened to the Joint Chiefs

Basically, both Bushes shat upon the Joint Chiefs, over and over. That does not breed good feelings from the military.

The median military person is probably more socially conservative than the median civilian, but that doesn't mean any great love for the Bushes.

[drm604]

16. Interesting.

I'm learning something here.

How did they feel about Clinton?

[hughee99]

6. It seems like the Generals' big issues are over the misuse

of the troops (to do something they're not trained for), or more specifically, inadequate planning and insufficient resources. If Obama pulls the troops out, they won't have those issues to worry about.

[The Sushi Bandit]

7. With a move to his left flank

[gratuitous]

9. If they're smart, they'll behave professionally

So I haven't the least clue what the military as presently constituted will do.

[Name removed]

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[Sirveri]

11. Nobody likes budget cuts. And the military is the biggest budget

we have to cut. I think as far as actual optempo and operations are concerned they'll be happy with Obama. But he's going to need to find money, and that will likely happen with cuts to spending in the military. I personally believe a total reorg of the military would really shave a large chunk of the budget off. We no longer need to budget large ammounts of money to fighting the cold war and can retool the military to the needs of today. Mainly high speed fast reaction forces capable of acting to promote global stability. Gone are the requirements for large armor columns and fighter jet squadrons.

[tsuki]

12. It is not the active duty. It is the Viet-Nam era military now retired

that write letters weekly in our newspaper claiming God is in the WH, and Dubya is the best thing that happened to the US.

[SpiralHawk]

13. "Failing to listen to military advice. That's been my motto. Smirk." - Commander AWOL

[Name removed]

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