Just curious: who is running the White House?

[question everything]

We were told that Chuck Hagel was "pushed out."

By whom? I remember in the Nixon White House when Haldeman and Ehrlichman ruled. But who is doing this now?

[Socal31]

1. Cheney's shadow bunker is in charge of the show.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Whoever it is, they suck. You don't fire someone without a replacement lined up.

And that replacement needs to be CLEARLY BETTER than the person who was fired. Obama has egg on his face, and his staff treated a loyal public official like garbage--even Biden was angry about it.

[still_one]

4. Unless something was done by Hagel that was extremely bad

[TwilightGardener]

6. My first thought was, either caught with female aide (Petraeus-like), or

some other scandal, or some sort of angry blow-up with the President. But nothing is coming out to that effect--and if it was something really bad, his resignation would have been effective immediately. But he's staying until a replacement is confirmed. According to one source I read (Elizabeth Drew), it's probably disagreement on policy. Though why the WH didn't paint it that way, instead of trashing Hagel as "not up to it", is beyond me.

[question everything]

8. If it were true we would have heard about it by now

Drudge (is he still there?) Fox, Cruz. Whatever they'd say would be far from the truth, but something would be said.

[TheNutcracker]

28. Been said Hagel said to McCain, "Obama has no strategy"....so under the bus he goes!

Even if it's true.

[Nitram]

20. You fire someone without a replacement to back him up...

... when you want to prod an unresponsive congress to quickly approve the nomination for a replacement.

[TwilightGardener]

21. LOL, no. Hagel was fired because people were criticizing Obama's foreign policy,

and he didn't feel he could gain any political advantage in firing John Kerry, and Susan Rice is his sycophantic handmaiden. As the WH itself said, they grabbed the "low hanging fruit"--and they are trashing him all the way out the door. A sickening way to treat a good person

[question everything]

24. "low hanging fruit" this is really sickening

I was hoping that Obama was more decent. And yet, the fact that he came to this office with no executive experience shows. Again.

This is why I think that no party will nominate another sitting senator - yes including Elizabeth Warren or Tom Cruz - as its nominee.

[karynnj]

29. Not to mention, the few foreign policy successes all involved John Kerry - and not Rice or Hagel

This includes that Kerry's comment and his negotiation led to the removal of a huge amount of Syria's chemical weapons - that could have ended up with Isis. Now, there are some who do not see this as a victory - but they are split between people wanting to give all credit for that to Putin, who did not and would not have done that on his own. Others credit those who spoke against bombing. That this was a success could be seen by Hillary claiming some credit in her book - she told Obama to take the deal according to her.

It includes the Afghanistan SOFA and the brokering of the Afghanistan election. Without the latter Afghanistan would have gone into chaos several months ago. This does not "fix" Afghanistan, but it was a masterful job on Kerry's part.

Kerry led on two things with regards to ISIS. Obama put him in the lead to try to persuade the Iraqis to get a real unity government and to help create the regional and international coalition. Even as the media argued that it would be less of a coalition than Bush had in 2003, Kerry (and others) got the Arab League and many surrounding countries on board. They were able to get UN approval. Whether or not the policy is correct, Kerry did an exceptional job on both of these tasks that were seen as daunting when Obama spoke of doing them in June.

The most significant thing, which may well be the highlight of Obama's foreign policy legacy is the US/China Climate pact. It was Kerry who saw this as possible, found more interest than at any time in the past (Kerry has dealt with the Chinese on this since at least 2007) and got Obama's ok to procede with it. When Kerry was a Senator, he spoke of using this common need as something to work on and in the process improve the overall relations between China and the US. If that happens - and from the full agreement had other agreements.

Kerry is in fact a superstar as a diplomat -- far more than Hillary, who was declared to be one. Very little of these accomlishments were well covered. I assume because the media had an interest in saying Obama was failing and because they were uninterested in details.

However, imagine if these were the accomplishments of a SoS Clinton -- or even Rice - either one!

[TwilightGardener]

30. I'm not knocking Kerry. He's doing his best with situations not of his making.

I did notice he wasn't allowed to choose his own deputy. He wanted Wendy Sherman, the WH said "no" and sent over Tony Blinken, because they wanted closer WH control over State, presumably.

[karynnj]

31. Completely understood

I think it was disgraceful that Wendy Sherman, who has been key on both the chemical weapons and the Iran negotiations was not given the job - she clearly deserved it. Kerry's statement on Blinken was typically gracious and Blinken is well qualified as well. Another question is how well Blinken and Rice worked together - he was a former Biden staffer on the SFRC - so he and Kerry have known each other for years. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/president-obama-to-nominate-antony-blinken-for-deputy-secretary-of-state/2014/11/07/2e58f02c-66d8-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html

One thing that publicly not allowing Kerry the choice does is reinforce the stories that he is not in the inner circle. However, neither was Hillary Clinton - a fact treated she now uses to distance herself. From the list I wrote, he has succeeded - maybe without the support he should have had - to have done some pretty good things. (I suspect that the climate change pact might mean more to him (and Teresa) personally than to Obama.

It does say a lot about Obama that he prefers Rice, who has alienated people - both in the US Congress and in diplomatic positions from countries we need to deal with. Obama is not someone who has great loyalty to people who helped him move up in his career. (There are examples of this from Chicago days and from who he gave positions to in his administration. ) This is NOT a bad thing - if the goal was to pick the best people. However, it does seem that there are some people he is loyal to - Rice being one. she was on his team in 2008, but so were people like Kerry, Daschle, Carolyn Kennedy etc who he does not seem to have that much loyalty for.

My point was simply that - at least as a diplomat - there really is not anyone that could be said to be better who could replace him.

[darkangel218]

3. Kittehs rule the WH.

Because kittehs rule.

[PoliticAverse]

5. I heard it's Al Haig... n/t

[mwrguy]

7. Fuck Hagel

Contradicting the administration in public and biting the hand that feeds you is grounds for firing.

[TwilightGardener]

9. When did he do that?

[mwrguy]

11. Several times

On subjects such as the threats posed by both ISIS and Iran, and who ordered the trade for Sgt Bowe Bergdahl.

[TwilightGardener]

12. Not really. The only thing that comes closest is his assessment of ISIS

being a big threat, which conflicted with Obama's "JV" statement, but that was January 2014 vs. Aug. 2014, after airstrikes and beheadings. Hagel stayed away from the topic of Iran (because he was beaten over the head with it at his confirmation), and he was a very capable defender of the Bergdahl swap. In fact, he was the guy sent out to take the heat on it, in front of Congress. My hunch is still policy and process disagreements, and also they want a more smooth, articulate spokesman who will impress the media more.

[question everything]

10. Did he? Can you provide the info/link? (nt)

[Mass]

14. The hand that feeds him is us, not Obama.

I was opposed to Hagel's nomination, but I cannot say I like the way his resignation was handled.

[mwrguy]

16. Obama is his boss

Obama appointed him, and Obama ask for his resignation.

[Mass]

13. The person aimed that by these statements is Susan Rice.

Her name has been repeated several times in conjunction with Hagel, and also as being in disagreement with the COS and creating problems.

This said, no need to attack Hagel, as some in this thread do. The way he was fired (with Obama giving him hugs and compliments while some unnamed official was beating on him at the same time is at least problematic. I wished Obama fired this person).

[question everything]

15. Thank you. I did not realize Susan Rice has so much power

but it could be the old vacuum that needs to be filled.

And I agree with your statement. Who would want to fill this post with such back fighting?

[Cal33]

17. A guess would be: the same line of people who have been doing this from generation to

generation. They choose to remain unknown, but are the real power behind the
scenes, and they are the ones who pull the strings.

I just looked up "DuckDuckGo" under "Who Runs Our World?". Duck probably has
tens of thousands of articles under this topic. Google probably has them by the
millions. You can't believe everything you read, of course. Here's one of them:

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/who-runs-the-world-solid-proof-that-a-core-group-of-wealthy-elitists-is-pulling-the-strings

[ancianita]

18. Denis McDonough is Chief of Staff, with a background as Nat'l Security Council Chief of Staff. No

one's mentioned him; yet, as Obama's chief advisor, I'd think he'd have as much influence over Obama as anyone.



Third from the right.

[DFW]

19. PEPCO

(Potomac Electric Power Company)

Without them, NOTHING runs in DC.

[cheapdate]

22. President Obama is fully responsible for his own actions.

I utterly reject the "puppet" metaphor. Unless they're holding a literal gun to his head, no one else is responsible for his decisions or his actions.

[blkmusclmachine]

23. Obama is the puppet. The 1% OWN the White House, and a lot more...

[Man from Pickens]

27. Goldman Sachs

Same as it's been as long as I can remember, which is quite some time.

[CJCRANE]

32. Here is an interesting article that mentions Hillary and Petraeus

as being the ones who set the events in motion that we see playing out today.

In fact it echoes what I've said here on DU, i.e. that Obama's foreign policy in his second term is very different to that in his first term. I've been trying to figure out what the reason for that is.

Here are a couple of the relevant excerpts:

"The confusion surrounding the entire US policy in the Arab world dates from mid-2012. At the time, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CIA director David Petraeus had seized on the US presidential election campaign to promote a second war against Syria, this time via France and Qatar. After his re-election and the ejection of his two "associates", Obama nominated new cabinet members with the task of building peace in Syria. But after a few months, it became clear that Clinton-Petraeus policy continued without the knowledge of the White House and against the Pentagon.

...


Chuck Hagel’s dismissal is not a punishment for his actions, but an indication of the change undergone by President Barack Obama.

There is still a need to identify the forces behind Mrs. Clinton and General Petraeus’s triumph. Is it the “deep state” or economic actors? Clearly, the US press is completely at a loss: it is unable to explain what is happening or even to analyze this situation, and much less in a position to provide an answer to the question.

Ultimately, the embassies around the world are waiting for new information before drawing conclusions. Meanwhile, on the ground, the Pentagon is bombing the Islamic State to which other Americans provide weapons and funding."

Does Obama still have a military policy?

http://www.voltairenet.org/article186111.html