I like Gates. And, like Obama, I think there is merit in the H.W. Bush/Baker/Scowcroft/Powell "realist" school of US foreign policy.

My only concern was that Gates allegedly has some Neocon aides. I read today that Gates and Team Obama have been going back and forth on his assistants, and I assume the discussions are specifically centered on those aides.

to remove troops from Iraq.

I like Gates hanging around for a year.  

Why is Obama reinforcing the Republican talking point that only Republicans can be trusted on defense and national security? Dumb.

I also question whether Obama will keep his promise to withdraw most of our troops over a 16-month period if he keeps Gates on. Presumably the man Bush trusted to implement his Iraq policy is not going to advise Obama to stick to his campaign promise.

Is Obama really going to freeze her out?

Good for Obama. I expect Gates will be kept for a couple of years.  Wesley Clark become eligible to serve as Secretary of Defense in 2010.  That would be a great time for a transition.

The downside of Robert Gates is tolerable as long as it wins us something much more valuable in the longrun. As of now I'm willing to give President-elect Obama the benefit of the doubt, he's earned it, but my patience is not limitless.

Honestly, I don't get all the hand-wringing about this. Here's what we know Obama is going to do based on his moves so far (not to mention his campaign promises):

• Pass the biggest public works program since the New Deal
• Go big on green jobs
• Push hard for universal health care
• Get us out of Iraq

Even if he does all this and nothing more, he will have accomplished more for the progressive agenda than anyone since at least Johnson. This is huge stuff. Beyond that, all of this reading of tea leaves (or pig entrails) regarding what he might or might not do is mostly a pointless waste of energy. If he does bad stuff, I'm ready to make noise about it. But until he does bad stuff, we all should chill a bit.

My preferred choice, Clark, can't take the office until 2010 so I still hold out hope for him.

The things keeping Gates gives:

-Cover against pushback from the Right or from Trad Media bullshit. Hard to call one of their favorites out for being an Administration Yes-man.

-Support from the military leadership. Gates has support at the puzzle palace, and respect. That's no small thing, and especially given the other problems the President must deal with it's nice to have.

-Capital. He's keeping campaign promises and acting like a guy who really is the person he portrayed in the Campaign.

Sound like a good deal for a year+. Sure, in an ideal world he's not high on my list of choices but I'm not the one in the office. When Gates does step down and retire, the choice of who replaces him will be very important and we should really push hard for a progressive like Clark.

Lets take a walk down memory lane and Gates's history at the CIA under addled ronnie and poppa.
First he successfully buried information on Iran/Contra and though being in the middle of it and knowing all the players he managed to skate. remember Iran/Contra and act of treason where contrary to the direct language of the Constitution gates and company conspired to create an independent funding source inside the executive branch.

Lets not forget how as the head of the CIA he kept fabricating dire warnings of the Soviet threat, even as it was collapsing, to justify inflating the waste at the defense department that enriched the rethuglican paymasters feeding at that trough.

Even as the Berlin wall was being torn down he was obeying orders and still warning of the Soviet military.

Don't forget how the CIA under his leadership kept testifying that the licenses for dual use equipment were needed by Iraq under Saddam. Even as the tanks were rolling into Kuwait city Gates CIA missed the invasion and was sending "experts" to the hill to testify how Saddam needed that heavy equipment.

His willingness to politicalize every government agency he was at to benefit his political masters is the obvious reason he served well under this criminal administration.

Now Obama is going to keep this Quisling in a crucial position.
I remember the story of the Scorpion and the Frog.
Remember treason in service of his rethuglican masters is his nature.

+++++++++++++
A scorpion asks a frog for help crossing a river. Intimidated by the scorpion's prominent stinger, the frog demurs.

``Don't be scared,'' the scorpion says. ``If something happens to you, I'll drown.'' Moved by this logic, the frog puts the scorpion on his back and wades into the river. Half way across, the scorpion stings the frog.

The dying frog croaks, ``How could you -- you know that you'll drown?''

``It's my nature,'' gasps the sinking scorpion.

I have the sinking feeling that I am going to be very very sick of the phrase "Obama promised us change" before long.

Comparing Obama's every action to whether it is "changey" enough seems counterproductive.

I cheered for changes in policy, but I really cheered for a change to competent leadership. Nothing that Obama has done so far has made me doubt his competence.

Sure seems like more imitatio Clintonis.

I have no problem with Gates for many of the reasons already stated above, as well as an enduring gratitude based on the strong assumption that under the specific framework of the National Control Authority he refused to authorise a nuclear strike on Iran sometime around February 2007.  'Just another day in the Gulf,' he said, if you will remember.

Please does no one look further back then 8 months?

Gates supported illegal and traitorous action under addled ronnie - Iran/Contra

Gates while head of the CIA politicalized the US intelligence apparatus to serve partisan political motive and fabricated false intelligence evaulations to promote those partisan ends.

Please does no one look further back then 8 months?

Gates supported illegal and traitorous action under addled ronnie

Gates while head of the CIA missed the collapse of the Soviet empire.

Gates supported selling Saddam weapons and technology literally until tanks were rolling through Kuwait.

These are facts that no one deny's just ignores. Being better then Rumsfield is a very low standard to measure some one against.

He has been a partisan political hack through out his career and I do not understand why people think he is going to change his spots now.

For me the key thing is not Gates but if there is going to be some overhaul in getting rid of the people who took us into the idiotic war. Gates wasn't the problem, but there were many Bushies who served under Gates. Will Gates be carrying all of them forward?

Oh by the way, this is why I hated the Lieberman move. We have plenty of opportunities to look bipartisan such as the Gates pick. There was no need to accomodate that moron.

I don't have a problem with this pick as long as Obama has the guts to impose his will and call any holdovers on any bullshit. That is the question Obama must answer.

Then again, I have no problem with those opposing the pick. Obama has to feel some pressure to bring about change. And that can only come about if he feels pressure on any status quo picks, even if they are not bad ones.

A poor transition in defense and the withdrawal from Iraq could sink the Obama administration.  The economy is out of control.  This situation isn't, but it needs good leadership.  In my opinion, Gates is the best cabinet secretary Bush has.  That's damning with faint praise, for sure.  

To me, the transition so far has been pretty flawless - like the campaign.

I remember during the Clinton years, the right was rooting for a major defense blunder.

They mocked him when he bombed Bin Laden, when he took on Iraq, Serbia etc.

They always said Clinton brought down the millitary, keeping Gates will not shield him from their criticism but could help.

You know what? For the past few years, we have been promised the war is near the end. There is always going to be a fucking transition.

If Gates is really the best man for the job, so be it. But that does damn the Democratic Party. That means there isn't a single other person they could find that could handle the job?

Sure, we need Gates for a transition. THAT IS WHAT THE NEXT FEW MONTHS ARE FOR! Select your candidate and have him go through some serious prep for the next few weeks. Unless Gates resigns, Gates will be in for the entire term. Do not even fantasize that Gates will be asked to step down after a year or two. That is just a little more likely than Lieberman being stripped of his chairmanship for bad performance.

Gates had to dive in when Rumsfeld resigned. Did he need a transition????? We keep falling for this republican nonsense that by default, their people are the most competent at defense.

People, we WON the fucking election decisively. Select the best fucking people for the new agenda. Remember, I did not say just the best people. We need people on board for whatever agenda Obama wants to push. Last time I checked, he wont the elction because he promised major CHANGE. If he is really that serious about FIGHTING for his point of view instead of settling for what "looks mature", he will make changes without worrying about the DC establishment thoughts.

If Gates is a real patriot, I am sure he will extend his cooperation in a role as a special advisor to the new Secretary of Defense. As his boy McCain said, COUNTRY FIRST, mofos.

I like this move.  Rumsfeld was a central part of the problem.  Gates has been part of the solution.  

There are a metric fuckton of economic matters to deal with right now.  I just don't see Gates as part of the Rumsfeld-Cheney bloc, and with the sheer volume of crises, keeping an established leader on board at Defense who has spent the better part of two years trying to solve the mess of the prior six years seems pragmatic.

Obama using the after glow of the election to make moves that his supporters would have down right scoffed at 3 months ago.   They had a crystal ball three months and saw these things happening many would have puked.  If they saw them 11 months ago he wouldn't have been nominated.

But now most are too busy celebrating to care.

Add to this the "honeymoon" he will get once in office and it will be another 18 months before his supporters on the left realize that Obama is governing as a centrist, corporate Democrat, who is going to triangulate his way to sky high approval ratings.

I doubt they will really care even then.  Some will.  Most won't.  Politics is like sport today.   You root for your team no matter what.