[/caption]How quickly we forget – it was a couple years ago when, then, Senator Obama relished criticizing General Petraeus for his “surge” in Iraq. Before the surge was even implemented, there was Senator Barack Obama opining and predicting its failure – only Senator McCain and Lieberman, who supported the Iraqi surge in its infancy, were some of the few lawmakers who stood by General Petraeus.
It must have been poetic justice, which went unnoticed by many of the pundits and media, to see General Petraeus standing by President Obama, accepting the position to be the point man on the prosecution of the war in the Afghan theater.
I don’t know what General Petraeus did in the interim since President Obama’s critique to become the apple of the president’s eye, but all that critique, apparently, was forgotten in the aftermath of McCrystal’s departure.
I suppos we could chalk it to politics. General Petraeus, on his part, is more adept at the PR game than General McCrystal, but I would give anything to be a fly on the walls to hear and see Petraeus in the privacy of his room gloating, at least just a little.
Even more grating critique for the Iraqi surge came from Vice President Biden and he too was there today with President Obama welcoming General Petraeus to the fold.
I am one of those veterans who will never criticize a sitting president on his policies, which address prosecuting a war because said policies affect the lives of our men and women in the theater - and the debates among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents on the home turf should not adversely affect the lives of our soldiers.
I am man enough to swallow my pride, if doing so means saving lives; notwithstanding my critique above, the president, in replacing General McCrystal with General Petraeus, swallowed his pride – for this, I commend President Obama.
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