President Obama has been the recipient of plenty of barbs from the Far Right - according to them, he's either a Socialist, a Communist, or a Fascist (depending on the day of the week and the particular lack of education of the person making the accusation); he's not a citizen, having been either born in Kenya or Indonesia (again; depending) - and he's taken plenty of nonsense from the military, beginning with his announcement that closing Gitmo was a priority. He's responded with intelligent civility to all of this nonsense. I'm glad to see another side to the man - a side which required some cojones and the long-overdue exercise of his authority (in this case, over the military).
Now, understand something - I love this country. My father was a U.S. Air Force officer. No one needs to tell me how to salute a flag. However, there comes a time when Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice needs to be enforced, and enforced by serious example - and today was one of those times.
By today's action in relieving General Stanley McChrystal, President Obama told the entire military, "You've all been behaving like a bunch of baby birds -- all mouth; and full o' shit. You talk big until someone whacks you on the backside, then you cry and run to the press. Those days are over. I'm done with your bullshit. While I'm in office, I'm the boss, and that's the end of this discussion. Questions? I didn't think so."
Yes, the fallout worries me. The Right is going to turn McChrystal into a warrior/martyr, and hold his situation up as an example for everything that's wrong with the Obama administration. The Right, however, is sorely in need of some basic education - starting with the real meaning of the Constitution, and the aforementioned Article 88.
Now, understand something else - I respect veterans. They're the ones we send to do a job no one else wants to do, and for less money than it's worth. I respect them for all the reasons why I respect anyone who serves the nation for pay, including letter-carriers; the guy at State who processed my latest passport-application, and the folks in the Forest Service.
On the other hand, they don't get worship or adulation. The ones who retire are entitled to a pension; the ones who die in combat are due the rites we grant anyone killed in action. The ones who do their two or four years and leave for university or voc-ed school on the government dime get to march in the Fourth of July parade and brag about their exploits - we tolerate this behavior in our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers because they did, after all, serve.
When they die, we bury them in a National Cemetery with a flag on their coffin and a bugler playing 'Taps'. This, too, is deserved.
What they don't deserve is the adulation of the public when they wrap themselves in the flag and bitch.
And, it's for all these reasons that I'm glad the President finally grew a set.
See, he's been the subject of a lot of bullshit-behind-the-back from the U.S. military's officer corps and rankers, alike - and it's not only wrong, it's against the laws governing the military. Period. General McChrystal's tawdry behavior in running to the press and whining about his boss was not only bad manners, it was against the code he signed up to serve - he had his ass handed to him, and rightly so.
By example, what President Obama did was to let the rest of the military know, in no uncertain terms, that while they might disagree, those disagreements had better never leave the immediate area, and had better never wind up in the press under any circumstances - because everyone from the CentCom commander on down to the lowliest private can, and will, be replaced faster than you can say 'Truman/MacArthur'.
There are those who'll say, "You don't love your country because you don't worship soldiers."
To them, I'll simply say, "I believe in the Constitution - all of it."
