Obama Announces He’s Replacing Gen. McChrystal With Gen. Petraeus (VIDEO)

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by Glynnis MacNicol | 2:35 pm, June 23rd, 2010

» 9 comments

President Obama confirmed today that he had accepted Gen. Stanley McChrystal‘s resignation and had chosen Gen. David Petraeus to take his place as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Obama appeared in the Rose Garden alongside Vice President Joe Biden, Gen. David Petraeus, Sec. Gates, and Adm. Mullen.

Obama’s sendoff to McChrystal was notably kind; the President spoke highly of McChrystal’s tenure in Afghanistan and was careful to point out that the decision was not a personal one.

I don’t make this decision based on any difference in policy with General McChrystal, as we are in full agreement about our strategy. Nor do I make this decision out of any sense of personal insult. Stan McChrystal has always shown great courtesy and carried out my orders faithfully. I’ve got great admiration for him and for his long record of service in uniform.

However! “The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general.” It was at this point Obama shifted into angry dad mode:

I’ve just told my national security team that now is the time for all of us to come together. Doing so is not an option but an obligation. I welcome debate among my team, but I won’t tolerate division.

All of us have personal interests. All of us have opinions. Our politics often fuels conflict. But we have to renew our sense of common purpose and meet our responsibilities to one another, and to our troops who are in harm’s way and to our country.

We need to remember what this is all about. Our nation is at war. We face a very tough fight in Afghanistan. But Americans don’t flinch in the face of difficult truths or difficult tasks. We persist and we persevere.

This was just the sort of stern tone a lot of people felt was missing from Obama’s Oval Office speech last week. Hopefully we can look forward to a similar tone in the future, though obviously on a different subject. Watch below.

barack obama, David Patraeus, Gen. McChrystal, Rolling Stone

felixw

“I don’t make this decision based on any difference in policy with General McChrystal, as we are in full agreement about our strategy. Nor do I make this decision out of any sense of personal insult…, etc. etc.”

Obama is lucky that lie detectors can’t be applied to things he reads off the teleprompter. This one does not pass even the most basic sniff test…..
jk

Obama placed his mammoth ego ahead of the national interest. Obama is a sissy who is in way over his head.
libra blue

Obama, the “community organizer” claims that McChrystal did not live up to the standards of a commanding general. Obama has not lived up to the standards of a competent president so maybe we should fire him.
Rick Steele

At least things went better in the Rose Garden this time… no mouse running over Obama’s feet or fly landing on his face…
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lory-Shelton/1145708861 Lory Shelton

Too bad the general didn’t put his skinny ass in a headlock until he cried ‘mother’ —Husein is a sissy boy with Thin skin.
disgusted

GAIUS PETRONIUS ARBITER,

first century:
We trained hard–but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing. And what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.
libra blue

Wolf Blitzer, David Gergen, and Gloria Borger are kissing Obama’s ass big time on TSR.
SteveMG

There’s one report I’ve read that says Petraeus was in town yesterday and was told he was going to be given the job in Afghanistan.

Which means the meeting with McChrystal was for show. Or, at least, perhaps to give the General some face-saving?

The President handled this well, I think. He deserves praise for making the best of a bad situation.

Not everything is politics.
roadmouth

Hey isn’t that General BetrayUs? Didn’t he formulate that strategy that Obama verbally annihilated in 2007 and so elegantly proved would fail? Isn’t this W’s boy? Why would the exalted One need this loser? I mean we know we all lost that last War and only the O had the insight to see that. Is he giving second chances?