A new line of attack against President Obama may be emerging from the GOP. Within minutes of each other this afternoon, Karl Rove and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) both criticized President Obama for not speaking regularly enough with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
In an interview broadcast last night on 60 Minutes, McChrystal said he’s talked to Obama once in the last 70 days. At first, we were surprised by that. But then we realized he probably talks to McChrystal’s bosses a lot more often than every 70 days.
Nevertheless! On CNN, Bond said, “I think it’s baffling that the President has time to travel to Copenhagen, to be on Letterman and every channel except the Food Network — and yet he doesn’t have time to talk with and listen to his top general.”
Over on Fox News, Rove said, “each President has his own style, but that’s a little detached, a little bit too aloof for my taste.”
The President might want to get to know Gen. McChrystal’s mind and understand better what’s going on on the ground by talking to him more than once every couple months.
Of course, it isn’t as if Obama doesn’t know what’s going on in Afghanistan because he’s too busy yucking it up with David Letterman. It’s not as if he isn’t talking to anyone about Afghanistan. It’s probably a pretty safe bet that he talks to McChrystal’s commanding officers more often than once every two months. Still, we can probably expect more right-wingers to seize on the once-every-70-days critique.
