Official Washington is starting to realize that in addition to his personal
skills, Obama has assembled a highly professional and effective national
security team that serves him and the nation very well.
His first -- and in some ways most important -- decision was to ask Robert
Gates, George W. Bush's defense secretary, to remain in charge of the Pentagon.
Gates was anything but an obvious choice. Obama had campaigned as a sharp critic
of Bush policy in Iraq and had clearly signaled that he would insist on a new
approach to Afghanistan. Keeping the boss of the old policies was
counterintuitive -- and offensive to some of Obama's Democratic allies.
But Obama recognized Gates's strengths. And he bolstered the team when he
picked as his national security adviser retired Marine general Jim Jones,
another widely respected veteran of past administrations and a man of great
self-discipline and few ego needs.
The choice of Hillary Clinton was the most dramatic given their history as
rivals in a protracted battle for the nomination. The full story has not been
told of why he wanted her and why she wanted to be secretary of state. But so
far, it is working better than almost anyone could have imagined.
I agree with this, except that I wish he had someone in this mix who represented a little less 'hawkish' position, if only to make sure the position is represented.
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