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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Monday, September 21, 2009

Thought - Where is David Petraeus?

After building his rep on the Iraq "surge," it's kind of odd that current US Central Command commander Petraeus seems largely absent in the discussion of more troops for Afghanistan.

I mean, that's directly under his command, but with all his political sway and presence, he's leaving all the political work to his underlings. Kinda odd, eh?

posted by mikevotes at 7:48 AM

9 Comments:

  • Funny. I was wondering the same thing the other day....

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:00 AM  

  • I don't know why it came up on me. MAybe thinking to the Iraq parallel where he was spokesman.

    But it does raise the question, why not? Is the admin keeping him out? Or is he choosing to keep out?

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:06 AM  

  • Well, with the McChrystal report being leaked, Obama obviously has some ... detractors... in the pipeline. Who leaked it? Patraeus? It give the neo-cons a bone to beat up on the president. But the "news" that a general sees Afghanistan as a strictly military operation and wants more soldiers to do more solder stuff is hardly breaking news.

    Still, who leaked this?

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:33 AM  

  • He did make an appearance in London recently..."mission doable", "sustained commitment" etc. etc.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:16 AM  

  • EPM, the "who leaked it" question seems to be bumping around Washington right now.

    ...

    Anon, Yeah, I saw that he'd been pitching to keep the allies in.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:18 PM  

  • So what do you think? Petraeus in 2012 on the 'Who lost Afghanistan?' ticket?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:08 PM  

  • In a way I could see it, but I don't know if he has the skills to really do primary politics, all the rubber chicken dinners, kissing ass to the donors.... In the past, military generals have had to be much bigger than Petraeus to make up for their political gaps. Eisenhower, US Grant, etc.

    My hunch, if he decides to get in would be as a VP choice, but not for someone who could taint his broader appeal. (So Romney Pawlenty yes, Palin, Huckabee probably no.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 5:18 PM  

  • I believe the last time a general won a presidential primary was in 1952.

    By Blogger -epm, at 7:08 PM  

  • And he'd done alot more than Iraq.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 7:09 AM  

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