Until now, Defense
Secretary Robert Gates has been Washington's bipartisan heartthrob. But as he settles in with the new
administration, suspicion is growing among his old Republican buddies. There is
growing belief on the right that President Obama will use him for political
cover to slash weapons programs and the defense budget. Push may come to shove
next week if Gates rolls out his tough choices, which likely will cause great
pain in parts of the Navy and Air Force -- and in congressional districts that
bend metal for warships and fighter planes.
Here is how my old
friend (and uber-hawk) Tom Donnelly of the militarily promiscuous AEI puts it:
Obama is going to be cutting defense budgets (and we
shall see what happens in Iraq and Afghanistan) and Gates gives him top cover
that no Dem can give. Obama needs Gates
through this year's budget, the QDR process and the 2011 budget-build, and
these are difficult defense issues that matter a lot more than gays or
satisfying any of the party constituencies, because they could jeopardize
Obama's domestic priorities. Gates, for
reasons that I cannot quite figure out, has agreed to this Faustian bargain."
My bet is that Gates will stay on until about this time next year, and
leave when the QDR (Quadrennial Defense Review) is done. By then, I predict, Republicans will be
crying, "Bobby, we hardly knew ye."
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
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