“The Runaway General” is probably about to be “The Fired General” That’s what happens when you “diss” your boss in public.
Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, didn’t just insert his foot into his mouth during an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. He inserted both his feet and they were fully submerged.
You can read more on the story from CBS News below and read the Rolling Stone article here but let me just offer a few observations.
First of all, interview subjects have to be wary of freelance reporters. They are not accountable to anybody. Also you just simply can’t let your guard down or you will pay a price. McChrystal is finding that out right now. While the short term focus will be on McChrystal’s future and his revealing comments, there seems to be two longer term issues here: If McChrystal is fired, is there anyone better to do the job and even if there is what about the risks of making a change like this at a crucial juncture? Also, you wonder of McChrystal’s comments will raise questions about this administration’s war strategy. Did McChrystal just give President Obama’s critics plenty of fuel for the fire?
Asked by CBS News' Chip Reid whether the White House is considering firing Gen. Stanley McChrystal at the White House briefing today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs replied that "all options are on the table."
Gibbs said that President Obama has not made any decisions on whether to remove McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, in the wake of an incendiary Rolling Stone article in which McChrystal and his aides are quoted criticizing Mr. Obama and many other members of the administration. He indicated the White House will have more to say following a face-to-face meeting with McChrystal tomorrow.
Still, Gibbs made clear that the White House was extremely unhappy with McChrystal, the engineer of the American war strategy. Gibbs said Mr. Obama was "angry" about the comments in the article and that McChrystal made an "enormous mistake in judgment"; he pointedly declined to say McChrystal's job is safe.
In the article, McChrystal complains that at an early meeting the president was unprepared; Gibbs said at the briefing that the general will "have his undivided attention" at the meeting tomorrow.
Gibbs said Mr. Obama has not yet spoken to McChrystal about the article. A senior military official in Afghanistan told The Associated Press McChrystal has been no indication as to whether he will keep his job.
Top House Democrat David Obey has called for the "dangerous" McChrystal to be removed, while Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham have called McChrystal's comments "inappropriate" and said the president should make a decision about his future.