Joint Chiefs Chairman So Micromanaged By White House, He’d Have To Check With White House To See If He Can Answer The Question
By Robert Gehl, January 12, 2015.
With a wink and a nod, General Martin Dempsey revealed something deeply disturbing about this administration.
On “Fox News Sunday,” the four-star general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was asked by Chris Wallace about the lack of support in the military for President Obama. He shifted – twice – to whether or not he was being “micromanaged” by the White House. He answered his own question: Go ask the White House.
Here’s the clip (transcript below), relevant part starts at 1:24:
WALLACE: “The Military Times asked active-duty service members last month how they thought the commander in chief was doing his job. 55 percent say they did not approve of President Obama’s performance as commander in chief. Only 15 percent said yes, which was the lowest number of his presidency. Why do, in your opinion, so many service members have doubts about this president?”
DEMPSEY: “What I tell the troops when I travel around is the commander in chief supports their efforts, and that I can tell them with great confidence that he takes — you know, this is this issue of whether or not I’m being micromanaged, right?
WALLACE: “It’s not just the troops on the ground. You have the two last secretaries of defense, Panetta and Gates both wrote searing books in which they criticized the White House for micromanaging, jumping the chain of command, and for some times emphasizing politics over policy. Are they right?”
DEMPSEY: “Mean, am I being micromanaged? Is that the question?”
WALLACE: “That’s one of the questions.”
DEMPSEY: “If you asked me if I’m being micromanaged, I don’t know, I better go ask the White House before I answer the question. Look: It’s the wrong metric. What I can tell you is the metric we should be focused on is access and whether my advice influences decision. I have frequent access to the commander in chief. I feel no constraints in providing my advice to him, and that my advice over the past 3 1/2 years has influenced his decisions. You know, whether someone wants to characterize the desire, the almost insatiable appetite for information about complex issues as “micromanaging,” they can have it, but for me the metric is access and advice.”
Transcript courtesy grabien.com
http://downtrend.com/robertgehl/joint-chiefs-chairman-so-micromanaged-by-white-house-hed-have-to-check-with-white-house-to-see-if-he-can-answer-the-question/
