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Date Posted: 18:52:23 10/31/08 Fri
Author: Bill
Author Host/IP: 70.21.186.167
Subject: Re: I'm a doctor, not a doorstop.....
In reply to: Fred 's message, "I'm a doctor, not a doorstop....." on 16:03:26 10/31/08 Fri

For whatever reason serving officers usually are encouraged not to get involved in politics , the conventional wisdom being they might be politically at odds with their commander in chief and the tradition being that soldiers do their job and stay out of the public forum. Notably Billy Mitchell broke with this tradition and also notably Doug MacArthur had political aspirations of his own though he did not have the right skills for it being too much of an egomaniac to listen to anyone other than the voice in his head ( which he probably thought was God talking to him and since he thought HE was God for him it probably was). Macarthur was also the darling of the China lobby which was the power behind the conservative republican movement to retake control of the country from the Democrtats who had been holding it since FDR got elected. As the China Lobby people were more or less conservatives all the Ds sent them all over the world to keep them out of the way and lost the use of some really smart people which led to them following the containment policy that lasted up till the fall of the soviet empire and caused much of the problems of the last half century and a decade or so.

Pwell is and has always been both the professional soldier and the intelligent student of history. He has a lot of things going for him that a politician lacks and his vast experience all over the world was perfect for a sec. of state.
Too bad that his advice was not heeded and he was bloked from doing the job he was chosen for.
I believe he would have served any sitting president reguardless of party had he been asked and if allowed to do his job would have been a lot more effective than he was permitted to be.

There were some feelers about asking him to run as a republican for the office of president but he declined the offers from both sides for any public office until he was given the sec of state job.
I would call him more or less a moderate which means really an independent centrist, the far fringes of both parties would probably not have been in favor of him for the potus.

Patreus appears not to have any political aspirations as of this point , is not an egomaniac nor someone who actively refuses orders or operates like a head of state which was MacArthurs modus operandi. Nobody is like MacArthur who was a law unto himself probably the closest near match was Maclellan during the civil war thoguh he was a lot more like Monty in truth being an advocate of the nine hundred percent overkill theory and a very good organiser who singlehandedly rebuilt the Union army but was an incompetant field general when push came to shove which for him was never, Macarthur did move but on his own terms and his own schedule and always believed the politicians were wortking against him.

Powell did his job as far as he was allowed then declined to continue either because he was frustrated by the internal politics or saw the handwriting on the wall being someone who had very different philosophy of how things should be done than those of the most influence on the whitehouse while he was sec of state.

He would make a very good president though his chances of being run are somewhat remote in the present political climate.

b

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