Ex-defense chief: Obama not really different from Bush
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Ex-defense chief: Obama not really different from Bush
Meet the new boss, same at the old boss....my coverage of Robert Gates, speaking to ROTC students and reporters at the National Constitution Center this afternoon:
If one thing motivated the 53 percent of Americans who voted for President Obama in 2008 more than anything else, it was the notion that a Democrat in the White House would bring radical change from the excesses of George W. Bush.
And nowhere was that more true than in the area of defense and fighting terrorism, where partisans expected Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, try terrorists in civilian courtrooms and guide the nation out of its unending and costly wars overseas.
But now the man who ended up serving as defense secretary under both presidents says that an Obama administation didn’t really deliver any change at all when it came to military and anti-terror issues.
“I think on a lot of the big issues there was a lot of continuity,” said Robert Gates, the recently retired Pentagon chief who was in Philadelphia yesterday to receive the 2011 Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center.
Gates noted that Obama has actually been more aggressive than Bush in using missiles from unmanned drones — waging a type of warfare that has killed some al-Qaeda leaders but also scores of innocent Afghan civilians.
On counter-terrorism, the former defense secretary said, “I think that President Obama has been more aggressive than President Bush, particularly in the use of drones. Clearly on the legal side there are some differences in terms of rules involving detainees and interrogations and so on — but in terms of the military and military strategy, I think think there been continuity."
But Obama has kept in place a system of indefinite detention for some terrorism suspects, and Gates noted that while the current president did try to close the Guantanamo prison camp on the tip of Cuba, he’s been stymied by lawmakers.
Will Gitmo close anytime soon? “Given the current state of affairs in Congress,” Gates replied, “probably not.”
The 67-year-old Gates, who stepped aside this summer for current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, ran the Pentagon for the last two years of the Bush administration and the first two-and-a-half years of Obama’s presidency.
In announcing their selection this summer of Gates, who presided over wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, constitution center officials said Gates earned the medal — which has gone to six Nobel Peace Prize winners in the past — for his role in “defending freedom.”
Thanks, Captain Obvious.
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=how+Obama+is+like+Bush
— DHS- At least he has done one aspect of his job well. Now if he could only find that pesky "Summer of Recovery"....— Norton
- Obama delivered no change. period. Noda, nunca, nyet
. For anything— BornOnTheWrongSide_of_PA 
Well I guess Gates has seen how the press goes after anyone who dares criticize our Great Leader. Besides, he wasn't discussing economics.- The awful thing here is that Gates seems to be hinting at scaling back the military operations and the right wing wackos cannot see that. All they want to do is take cheap shots and make inane comments. When the conversation finally gets to cutting the military and the corporate welfare it encompasses, the same cretins will be defending it by saying it is jobs. The problem here is that it is the wrong jobs, the right jobs are our infrastructure, out current needs and the future needs but since Obama backs that they are against it. Ever wonder why I call them Wackos?
— DavidAG - Why am I not surprised to hear this? No change, no hope, no audacity.— farhorizons
- Maybe now those that select the Nobel Peace prize winner will think twice about giving their medal to a street organizer with no experience in life other than being elected president of the US.— RufusG
- A lot of people campaigned in 2008 that Obama would be soft on defense. I'm glad to hear that's not the case.— 76erfn
- It doesn't matter which party is in office, we have elected Presidents that get snookered by the military & CLA. (Central Lack of Intelligence) The reason this country is in the proverbial toilet is because we cannot balance guns & butter in today's world economy. You want Homeland Security? Then pull out of an unwinnable wars like Afghanistan & place the troops at home in the airports, shipping ports, Mexican borders, & the gang infested inner cities. But hold on, this would save money & make too much sense!— march951
- It doesn't matter which party is in office, we have elected Presidents that get snookered by the military & CLA. (Central Lack of Intelligence) The reason this country is in the proverbial toilet is because we cannot balance guns & butter in today's world economy. You want Homeland Security? Then pull out of an unwinnable wars like Afghanistan & place the troops at home in the airports, shipping ports, Mexican borders, & the gang infested inner cities. But hold on, this would save money & make too much sense!— march951
- Obama, like Bush, was briefed with the facts and therefore, continued with the same policy. Liberals can't stand this. Conservatives wont admit it. Say what you will about the economy, but Obama did the right thing with this policy. ......The world can be a very, very ugly place. Bush knows it. Obama knows it. Praise goes to both.— StevenG
- Ron Paul 2012— Ohmy
- This comment has been deleted.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- What a dumb comment. That's like asking you if you're going to be as critical of the next Republican POTUS as you are of Obama. Of course you won't. You'll act like the next Republican POTUS can do no wrong just like you neocons always do. You never hear a word when a Republican runs up the deficit. As soon as a Dem takes office then it becomes the number one priority to reduce the deficit. Hypocrites. Try not being a hypocrite for a change. — taxmanndumbeth
- But does this mean that Will now dislikes Obama? Or, like those billboards said, does he miss Bush yet?
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