Gates Has Canceled On Bush To Meet With Obama Team

At a brief news conference in Kandahar, Afghanistan, an Afghan reporter asked Robert M. Gates, President Bush's defense secretary, the first, pertinent question: Just what was President-elect Barack Obama's policy for his war-weary country?

...

What was originally conceived as a goodbye tour for a lame-duck defense secretary instead offered a preview of the president-elect's strategy for winding down one war, building up another and tackling the issue of Iran. Mr. Gates acknowledged that effectively working for two commanders in chief created certain strains.

"I'm not forgetting at all, for a second, who is the president until noon on Jan. 20," Mr. Gates told reporters on his plane en route to Afghanistan. Nonetheless, he said, the transition "does create some occasional awkwardness."

For example? "Well," he said, offering a sampling of apparent recent conversations with schedulers in the West Wing, " 'I would love to come to this meeting at the White House, but I actually have a meeting with the transition.' "

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[ljc]

Another misleading headling. How can he cancel something he never scheduled in the first place?

[dhfsfc]

Come on. Everybody knows who the real President is here.

Even if the real President has not been sworn in yet!

[loki]

The scary part is Gates, is part of the same think group that Rumsfield, Cheney and others belong to. The same one that William Krystal founded, the same ones who submitted to then President Clinton asking for Iraq to be invaded and had a pre-drawn map on how Iraq would be divided up for the oil companies. I find it very upsetting to think Obama would even consider Gates for any position.

[vjoseph]

YAWN

[roshni]

Good choice.
One is planning for our future. The other is ducking shoes.

[vjoseph]

LOL

[Plank]

Smart guy.

[ByersL]

Gates is probably relieved that Obama will help him with his legacy--which might have been much worse if McCain continued the war.

[williamina]

Guess you didn't read the article.

[JoeBridgeman]

Oh, no ... I thought I were in for a juicy article, but it turns out to be another misleading headline. Common HuffPost!!!

I actually read the whole article this morning, and while it is true that Sec. Gates will miss a meeting in the WH today so that he could meet with O's security team, I don't think he is "dissing" Pres. Bush. In fact, the opposite is true: Sec. Gates is trying his best to walk between the lines. Perhaps the meeting at the WH is just a minor meeting.

Come to think of it: if Sec. Gates is really dissing Pres. Bush, O should not want him as his sec of def. A man who disses on person can also turn on you too. When Sec. Gates was first appointed two years ago, I didn't think much of him. But he has turned out to be a very good sec. of def. Most people respect what he has done. I think it is a good move to keep him.

[KarlaElisa]

yeah, don't worry, they can give you the 'dear leader was awesome' talking points before you have to make some comments on your soon to be former boss.

[BartLA]

White House meeting was no big deal anyway. It was merely a review of all the success Bush has had in the middle east.

[EricHayes]

Couldn't have taken more than four, maybe five minutes.

[4wehttam]

If that...........lol.

[sonoffestus]

The only success would have been if the "shoes" hit the mark.

[roshni]

And instructions to announce that he has honor and dignity when he has neither.

[StillIRise]

No wonder Gates skipped the meeting. If it was a review of Bush's success in the Middle East, it wouldn't have lasted more than a couple of minutes, just long enough for everyone to sign in and then slip out the back door. They probably remembered what their mothers told them when they were children, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

What Gates really thinks, "Finally someone with an who will ask questions"

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

That's with an IQ.....

[jsgaetano]

It's hilarious that the only positive on Bush's eight years in office might be a smooth transition.

Personally, I think Bush should appoint Obama as Sec of State... then he and Cheney resign. That way, there is no transition, and America can get a leg up on getting fixed.

[BossBabe]

Actually your scenario would give us President Pelosi.

[jsgaetano]

Fine by me.

[SurrealPumpkin]

It would have worked for Wilson but the line of succession has changed.

[vippy]

I bet Mr. Gates will look up to the new boss and will serve him just fine! He had to put up with Bush.

[Mellenbal]

Meet with President Gallant or President Goofus? Not exactly a tough decision for a smart man.

[independent32955]

maybe so, but gates better be prepared to duck the next time he walks into the oval if Bush is still president...seems throwing shoes is his thing.

[Ramirez]

I read the headline and had to click through to the story just to figure out what it meant.

[justoverit333]

Well at least his new boss doesn't have
shoes thrown at him. LMAO

[RoloTomassi]

Gates has one foot on the platform, and the other on the train; and so he will uncomfortably remain until January 20th 2009, when the Obama Express fires up the engines and moves OUT, leaving BushCo behind to its dispicable infamy.