Obama got it right with Gates

Describing the 14th candidate in Time magazine’s “The World’s Most Influential People of 2008” issue, former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski writes,

“Above all, (he) is a patriot. But he happens to be also a very intelligent patriot, and that is truly reassuring.”

Brzezinski was referring to none other than IU alumnus and current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

On Nov. 30, Gates became the first Secretary of Defense reappointed to his position by a successor to the president under whom he was originally appointed. 
 
Gates has established himself, in the words of IU junior Miles Taylor, as a “post-partisan pragmatist.” Taylor, director of the Student Alliance for National Security, said he believes the reappointment of Gates speaks to President-elect Obama’s seriousness in consulting the best foreign policy minds available, especially considering commentators’ speculation that Gates and Obama may disagree on the pace of troop scale-down in Iraq.

“Obama has been more pragmatic regarding the war than a lot of people recognize,” he said. “He’s much more willing to defer to commanders on the ground than he is to ideology.”

Many consider Gates’ national ascent to have begun in his 2006 confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services when, asked by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan whether the United States was winning the war on Iraq, Gates responded with an unequivocal “No, sir.”

Since his nearly unanimous confirmation by the Senate, Gates has emerged as a firm and respected voice in U.S. foreign policy, continuing to earn widespread support from both sides of the aisle.

But as Gates himself has acknowledged, the US faces unprecedented difficulties abroad, as American forces have been spread thinly between two wars and a quickly deteriorating security situation in South Asia.  

In the wake of these new challenges, Gates has underscored the importance of adapting to a new style of exercising power abroad and suggested that the approaches of former leaders in his capacity have served as a detriment to American security.

“We should look askance,” Gates wrote, “at idealistic, triumphalist or ethnocentric notions . . . that imagine it is possible to cow, shock or awe an enemy into submission, instead of tracking enemies down hilltop by hilltop, house by house, block by bloody block.”

Taylor said he believes the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai have served as a wake-up call for leaders who were still questioning the primacy of the security threat stemming from South Asia.

“What you’re starting to see is a recognition that the Middle East is no longer the center of the War on Terror,” he said. “(South) Asia is emerging as the greatest threat in the near term.”

Despite the challenges facing the incoming administration, Gates is the man for the job.

With two years of experience under his belt, Gates continues to remind the American public that Secretary of Defense is not a party position, but a duty of paramount significance for America and her allies abroad. In his appointment of Gates, Obama has taken an early step in fulfilling his commitment to run a prudent, post-partisan administration.