McCain Adviser "Gobsmacked" By Obama's Cabinet

Max Boot, a violently hawkish neoconservative blogger and McCain campaign staffer, professes himself surprisingly impressed by Barack Obama's staff picks:

As someone who was skeptical of Obama's moderate posturing during the campaign, I have to admit that I am gobsmacked by these appointments , most of which could just as easily have come from a President McCain. (Jim Jones is an old friend of McCain's, and McCain almost certainly would have asked Gates to stay on as well.) This all but puts an end to the 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, the unconditional summits with dictators, and other foolishness that once emanated from the Obama campaign. His appointments suggest that, if anything, his administration will have a Reapolitiker, rather than a liberal, bent, although Clinton and Steinberg at State should be powerful voices for "neo-liberalism" which is not so different in many respects from "neo-conservativism". Both, for instance, support humanitarian interventions in places like Darfur and Bosnia. ...

Only churlish partisans of both the left and the right can be unhappy with the emerging tenor of our nation's new leadership.

Michael Goldfarb, another McCain blogger, agrees. Conservative Ross Douthat predicted recently that "on an awful lot of issues, the Obama foreign policy will end cutting to the right of Bill Clinton's foreign policy, which was already more center-left than left." He also wrote that "Obama already made fans of Niall Ferguson and Eli Lake; by 2012, I wouldn't be surprised if he's converted Max Boot as well." Apparently, it didn't take nearly that long.

Comments

[gerrylong]

How depressing that Obama has gone so far to the right as to impress Max Boot.

I read Boot frequently in the times and he is wrong about foreign policy matters more often than the blind-man Bill Krystol.

It looks like "more of the same" in the new administration.

I thought Obama was brighter than that.

[radical1]

HELLO Mr Boot, I don't give a Hoot what you say! But you just don't get it either. Chew!, Chew! again and again, speak the answers over and over, but some of you aren't hearing. Obama has explained to all and several times as well as in news conferences. He is the person who will pursue CHANGE after getting advise from all of the intelligent persons he has named to work on all of the huge problems caused by Bush with McCain's support, maybe that is, depending on which McCain he was at any particular time. We heard Obama say he will listen to all possible sides of issues to make informed decisions, hense advisors of different opinions. Bush couldn't handle more than one opinion, but Obama can and thrives on it. NO WONDER McCain's advisors did such a poor job advising him. One track minds can't handle complicated, many sided issues.

[Dovescorner]

Well said! Perhaps he should breakdown and say "you betcha" at the end of a sentence to be clear.

[guitrman]

I hope being 'gobsmacked' is the nicest thing that happens to him.

[iswideopen]

I do not want to hear the name "wall street republicans" anymore. Keep your comments to your greedy selves. And our troops ARE COMING HOME. Do not be fooled. PE Obama will be POTUS, not Robert Gates. Get it.

[ID-TenTango]

That remains to be seen with the Iraq-U.S. agreement to keep troops there until 2011 and Obama's desire to dramatically increase the troops presence in Afghanistan.

So while they might be leaving Iraq gradually, the numbers in the region will not decrease. Hell, they might actually increase. Especially with Obama wanting to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps. Not downsize them.

[Dovescorner]

It is Iraq stupit. We need to be out of Iraq. Sure he stated Afghanistan is poorly staffed. We cannot afford to staff 2 wars. Iraq has a surplus and Afghanistan is another beast unlike the Beast of Iraq. It is Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Poppy seed Alley Afghanistan!

[Myshkin57]

Unless this guy is British, he's just a pretentious poseur to use 'gobsmacked.'

Anyway, I think that this is just the new GOP strategy. They want to make it seem like they won the election since Obama's supposedly doing exactly what they wanted. When that doesn't work, they'll go back to criticizing him.

[ID-TenTango]

I have been pleasantly surprised with his decisions thus far regarding foreign policy posts.

I was extremely critical of the prospect of having Obama as President because of my concerns over foreign policy. However, with these decisions, he appears to be more inclined to do the right thing and listen to his key advisers.

Gates has been effective since taking the reins as SecDef.

Jones was Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, and already has working relationships with key nations that will be critical in terms of diffusing the growing situation with Russia.

Clinton still bears that Clinton name that still holds a lot of weight with foreign countries. Plus, she's (at least appears) to take a tough stance on foreign policy.

All in all, not too shabby.

[NoSillyName]

Exactly why I was NOT skeptical of BHO; he surrounds himself with those who know what he does not. He is a fantastic CEO.

[katocat]

Gobsmacked?

wth

[theotherfringe]

Max Boot is a hater. Barack Obama is doing an extraordinary job choosing those whom he wants to help run his administration. Boot is finding it very difficult to say so without being a complete jerk about it. He should have kept his comments to himself. He sound envious and petty.

[triplbee]

Who cares what these guys think. They lost. They are irrelevant.

[sherbug]

Yes, but Jim Jones will not answer to McCain, he will answer to Obama. If Obama says we leave Iraq in 16 months, then Jim Jones will have to get us out of there, unless he plans on contradicting his boss. This creep with is godsmacked over Obama's picks needs to just be smacked for his snarky comments.

[ZimboChick]

well well....he just had to put in the snide remarks didnt he. Obama is calling the shots. Fall into line gobsmacked one

[cdbk]

How do these selections effect anything Obama said about foreign policy during the campaign?Obama is now the "decider",not his staff,they only offer counterpoints of view to enable him to consider all sides of each issue.His initial foreign policy advisers from the campaign are still with him.

[AnAmericanWoman]

Gobsmacked - but WRONG! We WILL be OUT in 18 months because the VISION for the change comes from Obama - not GATES - NOT Jones - NOT Clinton - NOT anyone other than the BOSS, himself!

[SameOldSameOld]

Exactly. You know what change you can believe in is? A government that works. A government that leaves partisanship to children.

[ID-TenTango]

Sounds like somebody didn't get the memo about the U.S. and Iraq agreeing to keep troops there until 2011.

[Myshkin57]

That's just the current agreement. The Iraqis want U.S. troops out sooner if possible.

[evgolightly]

If you're gobsmacked now, you weren't paying attention to anything but your own rhetoric before.

[KIMBER]

The righties are changing tack; they're seeing that they can't attack him for being incompetent, so they're going to try to cause turmoil among Obama's supporters by championing his picks as who they would have chosen.
The coach runs the game, the players play it. Obama is choosing competent players so he can get done what he wants to get done. He doesn't wish to surround himself with loyalists who will preserve his bubble, but with the most knowledgeable and effective people he can find.
We elected one of those rare individuals that we actually believe has the intellect to chart a course. It wasn't hard to second guess everything Bush did; most of us are smarter than him.
Obama is a different kettle of fish - I'm staying out of his way to see how things shape up, because I gladly voted for someone who is smarter than me. At this point all I care about is truly solving the problems we're facing in the best way possible, and that will probably come from a broad ideological spectrum, not a narrow one.