...keeping Gates on would only worsen Democratic image problems on national security, as he would be the second consecutive non-Democratic Secretary of Defense nominated by a Democratic President. The message would be clear: even Democrats agree that Democrats can't run the military.President Clinton's second Defense Secretary was William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine, who served in that cabinet post from 1997 to 2001. Thus, if Mr. Obama keeps Gates on, there will not have been a Democrat running the Pentagon since late 1996, despite having two Democratic presidents in that 12-year span.
I understand Obama's wish to keep things calm in Iraq and Afghanistan while he tries to tackle the financial crisis the Republicans have left behind. I also understand that Gates is hugely responsible for repairing the battered, bruised, and bloodied military that the incompetent war criminal Donald Rumsfeld left behind. But there are PLENTY of competent Democrats that could take the baton from Gates.
Lee Hamilton, Sam Nunn, John Kerry, Jane Harman, and Jim Webb to name a few.
If Obama's desire is to keep Gates on to help with continuity, then perhaps installing him as a special envoy to Iraq would be a better idea; putting him in charge of any transition that will take place from an American-led military presence to an Iraqi one.
We all know Obama wants to have more than the token Republican in his cabinet. Despite all the current whining from the left (that includes you Rachel Maddow - I love ya sweetie, but come on!), the President-elect ran on a platform of change that included bipartisanship in his White House. That said, why does it always have to be the Defense Department that gets one of the Republican cabinet posts in a Democratic administration?
How about Colin Powell at Education? Chuck Hagel at Veterans Affairs? Maybe Lincoln Chafee and Andrew Sullivan (not a Republican in name, but a libertarian-leaning conservative) as cabinet-level advisers.
Think about it, Mr. President-elect! The Republicans have so thoroughly screwed up America's economy and her military. Like your economic team, don't you think the Democrats deserve the chance to clean up the mess at the Pentagon?
