General McChrystal prefers Bud Light to Biden

The upcoming issue of Rolling Stone is carrying a piece of hellfire for Obama. General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan is profiled. All of his brash arrogance and his comments to reporter Michael Hastings will make for a chilling read in the White House. The piece can be found here.

The piece doesn't tell us much that we don't already know. However, having these comments by McChrystal out in the open is something else. Namely, it is open insubordination.

McChrystal has already issued a public apology and has reportedly apologised to Biden personally. He has also been called to what promises to be a fairly fiery meeting with President Obama.

In the RS piece, McChrystal openly trashes Vice President Joe Biden, Richard Holbrooke, Karl Eikenberry and his distaste for Obama himself is veiled pretty thinly. I'm not going to fill this post with quotes from the article; you can read it yourselves via the link above or check out some of the choice bits here.

But such revelations! Who knew about the general's preference for Bud Light Lime and his set of custom nun chucks, engraved with his name? How is the US going to win the respect & fear of the enemy if it gets out that top generals are drinking Bud Light for fun? And custom "McChrystal" engraved nunchucks? What is he, the karate kid? But I digress...

As I said, not much of the controversial stuff is new. McChrystal's disdain for Biden and Eikenberry have been doing rounds among pundits for quite some time now and I don't think anyone really thought that all was well between him and Obama.

The real question of course is: What now? Will Obama dismiss him for insubordination?

The political implications of this for Obama are also a challenge. On one hand, it's clear insubordination and to not fire the general will make Obama look terribly weak, as well as setting a negative precedent for future disgruntled men in uniform. On the other hand, Obama does not need another high-profile fracas for the GOP to exploit, given that they are likely to back McChrystal and his hawkish plans for COIN and Afghanistan. With the mid-terms looming and Obama already looking politically fragile, he doesn't need more pain by looking soft on Afghanistan and National Security. It seems Obama is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Here's what I think Obama will do

I predict that Obama will let things slide with McChrystal but muzzle him for the rest of his tenure. Whether the damage has already been done is another question. It's no secret that McChrystal opposes the drawdown in 2011 and wants another surge in Afghanistan. Will he force this issue back to center stage and successfully avoid a drawdown or is the war's supposed growing unpopularity among Americans enough to ensure that Obama's drawdown remains unchallenged?

Here's what I think Obama should do

Obama should fire general McChrystal. The political reasons for why he should remain are important, sure, but what's more important is surely preserving the Constitution of the United States, the authority of the President and the moral fabric of the world's supposedly leading democracy. Regardless of how arrogant a general is, he has no right to openly mock his democratically elected leaders. Allowing him to do so would set a nasty precedent and would forever enshrine Obama as a toothless President.

What's really appalling about all this is how things got this far. How could McChrystal and his staff possibly be so stupid? How could they deliver such brazenly unconstitutional remarks to a reporter (and one who writes for Rolling Stone no less)?

More answers will come after the results of Obama's meeting but one thing's for certain, the President takes another hit.

This post was published here.