Reading today’s Morning Jolt newsletter from Jim Geraghty of National Review Online:
Can Our Forces Bomb an Outhouse in Syria without Presidential Approval?
The commentary feeds off this reportage from the Wall Street Journal
The U.S. military campaign against Islamist militants in Syria is being designed to allow President Barack Obama to exert a high degree of personal control, going so far as to require that the military obtain presidential signoff for strikes in Syrian territory, officials said.
Geraghty goes on to remind us of “Johnson’s War” – and the problem generals and field commanders had in the Vietnam War. * And then to remind us of our presidents self confidence:
Remember Obama’s boast, “I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m going to think I’m a better political director than my political director.” I guess he thinks he’s a better general than his generals and a better bomber than his bombers.
Our own DLH sends along this appropriate analysis:
To paraphrase the famous “note” to General McClellan from Abraham Lincoln, frustrated by the general’s timidity and reluctance to aggressively use his superior forces to defeat Robert E. Lee and end the Civil War:
My Dear President Obama:
If you are not using the army, we should like to borrow it for a short while.
Yours respectfully,
The American people
* related reading at The Federalist.
