I do not know that much about General David Petraeus outside of the fact that he designed the brilliant surge plan in Iraq and has had a hell of a time working with the appeasement oriented Obama administration. However I think the stakes are so high in 2012 that anyone who can beat Obama deserves a serious consideration and some of the social issues do not seem nearly as important as putting an end to government deficit spending, the socialistic take over of the economy, and a cowardly foreign policy. The down side to a Petraeus presidency could be that we would have a repeat of so many Republican administrations – trying to be “above” partisanship means that you give your opponents free reign to subvert you – see Eisenhower, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
by Philip Klein
In the early stages of implementing the surge strategy in Iraq, United States military commanders started to detect that the new plan was working, but the signs of progress were overshadowed as casualties mounted while American soldiers fought to secure the cities.
During a meeting around this time, a senior officer put his arm around Gen. David Petraeus, then leading the war effort in Iraq, and advised, “You know, you’ve got a messaging problem.”
Petraeus replied, “With all due respect, what we really have is a results problem.”
In late March of this year, Petraeus recalled the encounter at a press conference held during a trip to Manchester, New Hampshire. He punctuated the story by noting, “Occasionally, I can hear my old Dutch-American sea captain father, who would periodically remind his son, ‘It’s about results, boy.'”
At a time when the U.S. is facing multiple crises at home and abroad and Americans are increasingly disenchanted with Washington, Petraeus’s record of accomplishments — most prominently helping to turn around the Iraq war that many had written off as lost — has set him apart from other national leaders. And as the Republican Party struggles to repair the image for incompetence it gained during the Bush era, Petraeus finds himself the subject of continued speculation as to whether he may seek the presidency, no matter how many times he tries to put the issue to rest.
“I’d like to see Gen. Petraeus warm up,” Bob Dole, the former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee, told the Politico last fall. “I don’t know anything about his politics, whether he has an interest. It’s kind of a time for another Eisenhower, in my view.”
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Read the rest here: Will Petraeus be like Ike?
Tags: General Petraeus, Philip Klein
