Senate unanimously approves Panetta as Pentagon chief

[IDemo]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved the nomination of Leon Panetta to be the next Pentagon chief, handing him a crowded agenda of overseeing the drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, tamping down congressional unrest over the Libyan conflict and cutting the budget.

Panetta will replace Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is retiring June 30 after 4 ½ years on the job through the administrations of Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama.

Panetta, the CIA director during the successful operation to kill terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, received strong bipartisan praise as well as a 100-0 vote.

"Just a home-run choice. The president made a very wise decision," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43485879/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

[gateley]

1. What do you guys think of this? For some

reason I just don't get a good feeling about it, but I'm not sure why.

[monmouth]

2. I think he's a great choice, knows all the ins and outs and where the

skeletons are buried. He's been in that environment for ages...I do think this was a good choice. Born 1937 in Monterey, CA with many degrees of which I cannot remember right now. Smart guy.

[gateley]

3. Thanks, that's reassuring. Don't know why I was feeling iffy. nt

[PoliticAverse]

4. Perhaps it was the high praise from Lindsey Graham... n/t

[CBHagman]

10. Thanks for the comments. I really had no sense of...

...how he fit into things, aside from the fact that he'd been a congressman and was President Clinton's chief of staff.

On edit: I was beginning to think we'd never seen another Senate vote without some sort of crazy split. Nice to know that there are some issues, at least, no one needs to make a federal case out of, if I can use that expression. ;-)

[ixion]

5. Another Neocon Insider...change!

Not so much.

[liberation]

6. 72 years old?

Don't these people ever fucking retire?

[MineralMan]

7. He used to be the Congressman in my old district in California.

He's a pragmatic person with a lot of knowledge and experience. I knew him slightly in the 1970s, but I don't know his current politics. I think he'll do an OK job in this position. He's capable of getting whatever needs to be done done. The bottom line is that he's not really a political person with a set of progressive ideals. He's a man who gets jobs done. In the position he's been appointed to, his job is to do what is required. He'll do that with efficiency and skill.

It's sort of a perfect position for him, really.

[Gregorian]

8. It seems like just yesterday that he was a young rookie.

I remember sitting around drinking beers with friends, calling him the "Panetta puppet".

I think he'll be good. He has done some very good things in his past. If the word "good" and "Pentagon" can be used in the same breath.

[blueclown]

9. Leon Panetta is a Washington insider.

But he's not a Pentagon insider. He's not beholden to that bureaucracy, and that is exactly what the President needs. This is a good choice.