QUICK THOUGHTS ON GENERAL McCHRYSTAL

Yesterday, President Barack Obama accepted the resignation of General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, for harshly critical remarks made by him and his aides against the President. The comments appear in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

Although the President claimed he did not take the comments as a personal insult – and praised McChrystal as one of America’s finest soldiers – he said the resignation was in the best interest of national security.

And while the lamestream media is leaking all over itself, trying to contain its enthusiasm over what many are calling an historic display of leadership and strength exuded by Barack Obama, I am personally continuing to comb through Rolling Stone in an attempt to figure out what exactly he was supposed to have said that was bad enough to hasten his resignation.

I’ll grant you, it wasn’t the brightest move in the world for McChrystal to afford a leftist, anti-military, anti-war rag like Rolling Stone magazine access to him and his inner circle, but was resignation really necessary?

Of course, it didn’t take long for the historically proficient members of the press to insert their obligatory references to President Abraham Lincoln and General George McClellan, as well as President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur. Both of those situations were similar to this one only in that it involved a Commander-In-Chief and a General; otherwise, not so much. McClellan was, at best, ineffective and grossly insubordinate. MacArthur spoke openly against the strategy of his Commander-In-Chief in a time of war – an absolute no-no.

McChrystal, on the other hand, was thoroughly compliant.

Many others have written on this matter far more eloquently than I, so I won’t bother going into detailed analysis of this event.

I will, however, say this – and it can hardly be denied: If General McChrystal and his aides had made identical comments with a Republican in the White House, he’d have become the darling of the lamestream media, would have become to go-to guy on every cable talk show, would have probably gotten a gig on MSNBC as the resident “military expert” and would have won the title of “maverick.” He might have even snagged a spot on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine … with hugs and kisses from the editorial staff.

He would have been the “soldier with a conscience,” the “free thinking warrior.”

The entire matter would have been portrayed as clear-cut evidence of incompetence at the top by military experts out in the field.