Robert Gates has written an article in Foreign Affairs outlining his vision for the military. For anyone wondering how an Obama administration is going to approach foreign affairs, this is essential reading.
Apparently, Gates wrote this before Obama tapped him to stay on as Secretary of Defense, as advice for the next guy to have the job. But reading it, you can see why Obama would want to keep him at the Pentagon.
Gates calls for the military to balance it’s strategy between preparing for conventional threats and winning the wars it is currently fighting. Reading this, it is clear that Gates is extremely pragmatic and forward-looking. His call for hard choices regarding military spending and weapon systems procurement should please liberals, have long opposed wasteful, bloated pentagon budgets. At the same time, he emphasizes the importance of success in Iraq and Afganistan, which should reassure conservatives wary of Obama. His recognition of the limits of American military power stand in stark contrast to Rumsfeld and Bush.
There are many difficult decisions to be made that will upset the status quo in the military, and I doubt Obama by himself could have pushed through the necessary reforms. Gates, on the other hand, has earned the respect of the military establishment. Since he seems not only willing, but eager to use his national security bona fides to shake up the system, it seems that Obama made a very wise decision asking Gates to stick around.
