In comes the pol: WHEN fighting two wars, trying to stop Iran building nuclear weapons and facing a continuing danger of terrorist attacks, few things matter more than cool decision-making in the White House. That is why the departure last week of General James Jones (above), Barack Obama’s national security adviser, has prompted frenzied analysis. Was he planning to leave anyway? Or was he pushed because Bob Woodward disclosed in his latest book that the former NATO commander had a low opinion of the president’s inner circle of political advisers, calling them, among other things, the “politburo” and “the Mafia”? The answer seems to be: a bit of both. As Mr Obama said in a fulsome Rose Garden send-off, General Jones had never intended to stay for a full term. On the other hand, the leaks in Mr Woodward’s “Obama’s Wars” show that deep tensions have existed inside the president’s national-security team. In part this was a clash of personalities. Most generals believe in a chain of command, and General Jones appears to have resented the fact that some of those who worked for him had better access to the president than he did himself. He forced one such underling, Mark Lippert, out of the White House altogether. But another, Tom Donilon, has now been promoted to become national security adviser in the general’s place. ...
Check out the full Economist story here. See also: The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008
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