General Stan McChrystal

I don’t know if you got a chance to read this Rolling Stone profile of General Stan McChrystal, but generally, this U.S. general in Afghanistan complains about how lame the Obama administration is, makes fun of Biden, etc. He got fired over this, and some don’t agree with the decision, seeing public relations as a superficial aspect of job performance, but after years in the office workforce, I see how the image of your job performance is just as crucial as the substance of your job performance. Hello, we all have problems with our bosses, but do we go to the press and complain to them? That this senior level, experienced military dude showed this much indiscretion is an example of a serious case of bad judgment. You can never tell how a reporter is going to spin your words, so I can’t believe he got drunk in front of a reporter. In addition to which, the dude was responsible for spinning a story that the NHL player soldier got killed in heroic combat, not killed by his own team (as it were). He was also part of the military when Abu Gharib horrible torture photos showed up, so maybe he should have been let go earlier anyway.

I don’t really get what happened here. I would think he’d get the pros and cons of inviting the media to shadow you. He either completely disregarded the lessons he knows and wanted to give the Administration the finger, or he was genuinely caught off guard. Either way, it’s not good. It is a shame he is the only one Karzai connects to. For that, I may have given him a pass, but to so publicly set yourself up — there’s no save there. Agree? Disagree?

2 Replies to “General Stan McChrystal”

  1. Agree! I was on the fence before Obama canned him, but now I think it was the right thing. It’s not that he can’t disagree with the administration, but he should have the respect to say it to Obama’s face, to bring it up as a policy discussion. And I don’t care what he did or didn’t say himself, he sets the tone.

    I don’t understand it, either. It was either stupidity, arrogance, or he just really didn’t want the job and didn’t care anymore.

  2. i wonder if he wanted to stage a coup or something. i feel terrible for the younger dudes who looked up to him, but maybe it’s like when gary hart got caught with his misterss on that yacht monkey business, a secret wish to go down in flames

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