Yesterday when I saw the full breadth of what was contained in the Rolling Stone article, my sense was that Obama had no choice but to fire McChrystal. At the same time, I wasn’t at all sure that he would. Indeed, if I’d have had to bet last night, I think I probably would have put my money on ‘no’. Everyone has discussed the obvious rationales of not wanting to disrupt the mission at a critical point and so forth. (The notion that McChrystal himself was somehow irreplaceable never struck me as a particularly serious concern) And this is why it seemed like such an impossible position President Obama had found himself in. But looking at it in advance and much more in retrospect, he simply had no choice. A commanding general’s open disagreement with the president is unacceptable. But mockery of the president, not just by the general but among his key staff, which goes to the atmosphere he’s created, is unpardonable.
If something like this went unchallenged Obama’s status as the ultimate commander of the American military would pass beneath a threshold level of credibility.
And yet, as I said a few moments ago, I’m not sure I thought he had it in him. But he did. I’ve learned something.
