WHO IS THE REAL THOMAS DONILON, GEN JIM JONES REPLACEMENT? ANDREW McCARTHY
The predictably fawning New York Times profile[2] of Thomas Donilon, tabbed by President Obama to replace Gen. James Jones as national security adviser, takes pains to explain that “Mr. Donilon is known as a pragmatist, not an ideologue[.]” And on what is this supposed reputation based? Scrupulously non-ideological NYT correspondents David Sanger and Helene Cooper helpfully explain:
Mr. Donilon … started not as a foreign policy professional, but as a young political operative for [notoriously pragmatic, non-ideological] President Jimmy Carter, working for Mr. Carter’s chief of staff, Hamilton Jordan, and then managing the floor at the [pragmatic, non-ideological] Democratic Convention in 1980. Years later, he served as chief of staff for Secretary of State Warren Christopher [the non-ideologue also known as Mr. Pragmatic] in the Clinton administration. He coached [the rigorously non-ideological, utterly pragmatic] Mr. Obama on foreign policy for his debates during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Okay, okay, the bracketed commentary is mine — I know you were wondering.
Funny, the Times somehow did not find fit to print the observation of sitting Defense Secretary Robert Gates — who may actually be a non-ideological pragmatist — that Donilon would be a “disaster” if appointed national security adviser. According to Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s Wars,[3] which has somehow gotten less attention at the Times than Woodward’s Bush-era tomes, Gates described Donilon, as clueless when it comes to the military and was deeply offended by the disrespect the former Fannie Mae lobbyist showed to senior military leadership.
Woodward’s book has been noticed by RNC researchers, who have just put out a Donilon profile[4] of their own. It turns out that General Jones was also not a fan, though Donilon was his principal deputy. Jones echoed criticisms that Donilon lacked critical national security experience and existed in a lawyer’s bunker, his power stemming from his status as a Democratic fixer who has the president’s ear — an ear Donilon routinely fills with “snap judgments” and “absolute declarations” about places he’s never been to, foreign officials he’s never met, and a military with which he has no credibility.
Sounds like he’ll be perfect.
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