Obama Fires McChrystal
NBC News reports that President Obama has "relieved" Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his command in Afghanistan. Lucky. He can play golf, drink Bud Light Lime, not be in Afghanistan, etc. And the AP hears that David Petraeus will replace him.
Sadly, the most prominent person calling for Petraeus, leader of the 2007 "surge" in Iraq and current head of U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, was Bill freaking Kristol of the Weekly Standard, yesterday. Is Obama listening to Bill Kristol — this guy — now? Eh, he gets a pass this one time. Because it's probably a pretty good idea! Everyone's going to be so "happy" now, about the war in Afghanistan, right?
And let's just go ahead and get into the tangential future political implications that probably weren't a major concern anyway, just to save a post for later: this means David Petraeus probably won't be able to run against Obama in 2012 (meaning, starting in early 2011) as Republicans have been wanting him to, and which Petraeus himself has only categorically ruled out two or three dozen times.
Hey, there's Obama talking right now in the Rose Garden, with General Petraeus by his side! It's a hot day in Washington, hope they're okay.